Sudden Contact: Timeline and UED Factional Analysis
by A Very Thirsty Megalomaniac
Summary: A timeline and combination of intelligence reports from the United Earth Directorate and the Umojan Protectorate for the Sudden Series. This is by no means necessary to enjoy the stories proper, but contains heavy spoilers for all three stories.
1. Timeline

**A/N: I'm new to this, so concrit is very welcome. Needless to say, spoilers for Sudden Contact follow. This was much harder to write than I suspected it would be. It also ended up being much longer than I thought it would be. Enjoy!**

 **UED Timeline: First Contact and Great War**

 **2499**

 **November 5:** The zerg begin to infest Chau Sara.

 **November 7:** All contact with the Confederate world of Char is lost.

 **November 12:** Cerberus and Alpha Squadrons are deployed to help contain the Chau Sara infestation, and successfully repel several zerg offensives.

 **November 27:** Zerg begin targeting major Chau Sara population centers, including the capital of Los Andares, after a lengthy standstill. Heavy casualties mount on both sides. Zerg land on neighboring Mar Sara.

 **December 8:** The colonial scavenger vessel _Lady Lou_ is destroyed by the Protoss Expeditionary Fleet. In the process, Relay 118 and Relay 119 open and pull several protoss ships through. Due to a mutual misunderstanding, the Turian 37th Flotilla opens fire on the protoss vessels and is routed.

 **December 9:** Protoss forces land on Chau Sara and quickly establish a forward base. Most zerg are quickly slain, and the Turian 48th Flotilla, as well as the remnants of Turian 37th Flotilla are attacked and destroyed by the wary Expeditionary Fleet. Zerg are sighted on Mar Sara.

 **December 10:** Cerberus and Alpha Squadrons begin full retreat in wake of protoss advance. Evacuation is primarily successful due to protoss unwillingness to attack fleeing terran ships. A Mar Sara settlement comes under attack and local defense forces are almost overrun. Alpha Squadron successfully rescues the gathered militia – including one Marshal Jim Raynor. The Sons of Korhal make successful friendly contact with a surviving turian general. Turian Third Fleet is almost fully mobilized and prepares to push through Relay 118, doing so literally minutes before the day ends.

 **December 11:** Zerg mobilize and invade Council space unbeknownst to all other factions. Protoss make a push for Mar Sara, but are firmly rebuffed by Alpha Squadron. Alpha Squadron is then relayed orders to abandon the planet, which they do. Sons of Korhal meet with the Turian Third Fleet and both sides receive distress calls from Mar Sara local militia forces, who are pushed to the breaking point. They are evacuated at the last minute by the Sons of Korhal and their new alien allies. Back on Earth, United Powers League Admiral Alexei Stukov globally leaks the existence of aliens to widespread panic.

 **December 12:** Mar Sara is cleansed of life by the protoss. Contact between them and the Council goes poorly. The Sons of Korhal ally with the Citadel Council against the Confederacy, zerg, and protoss.

 **December 13-15:** Asari First Fleet arrives in the Koprulu Sector. Development and production of translators is swift thanks to Sarah Kerrigan and Matriarch Benezia. Terran refugees are loaded on to ships bound for Eden Prime.

 **December 16:** Marshal Jim Raynor officially joins the Sons of Korhal alongside the Illusive Magistrate (henceforth referred to as Man.) Recruitment among Mar Sara survivors go up. Plans are made to attack Halcyon. We suspect that, around this time, the protoss known as Tassadar somehow wound up on the zerg planet of Char.

 **December 17:** Terran refugee ships sent to Terra 1 (later known as Eden Prime.) Asari diplomats begin setting a foundation. SoK and Council forces successfully assault the Halcyon Markov Research Center and uncover psi emitter schematics.

 **December 18-25:** Unconfirmed sightings of zerg in Council space are dismissed as hysteria. Nevertheless, Council races tighten their borders.

 **December 26:** Contact made by an unknown political entity and the Geth Consensus. The geth agree to try halting the tide of the zerg.

 **December 27:** Widespread SoK broadcast results in massive upheaval. Several Confederate outer worlds are subject to brutal riot control measures and a curfew. KMC ships are sighted at the Confederate border.

 **December 28:** UPL and SAC officials come to an agreement to take necessary action in the Koprulu Sector.

 **December 29:** The vorcha world of Heshtok comes under attack by the zerg.

 **December 31:** Surprisingly little headway is made in the zerg invasion, which suffers under the brutal Heshtok conditions and the jaded locals. The geth begin their counterattack and are successful in their efforts to stymie the zerg offensive on Heshtok. The Council/SoK joint fleets blockade Antiga Prime.

 **2500**

 **January 3:** Antiga Prime is taken by surprise assault by combined Council and SoK forces. Alpha Squadron is dispatched, but General Edmund Duke's vessel is boarded and he himself defects under pain of death, at Mengsk's suggestion.

 **January 5:** Additional Confederate forces arrive at Antiga Prime and both successfully land ground forces and hold the enemy fleets in a stalemate.

 **January 7:** Zerg invade several major worlds, most notably Noveria. Heshtok is abandoned to the combined geth/vorcha resistance.

 **January 9:** Irune is invaded, along with Yex'por and Daelon. From this point forward, the zerg begin invading worlds at a rate of about three per galactic standard day (though not all are inhabited.)

 **January 12:** Salarian Second Fleet enters the Koprulu Sector and attempts to make contact with the protoss. An ill-advised remark results in their fleet being pushed back through the relay. The protoss began actively blockading space around Chau Sara. Furthermore, a massive unknown ship is sighted at Eden Prime, and a family of colonists as well as one visiting asari archaeologist go missing. Later evidence matches the profile of this massive ship with the one sighted at the Battle of the Citadel, which was known as a "Reaper."

 **January 13:** The Southern American Coalition and United Powers League are dissolved. The United Earth Directorate is officially formed, and preparations are formally begun to reclaim the wayward colonies.

 **January 14:** Tyrador IV, Halcyon, and even Tarsonis itself experience major unrest. KMC ships are sighted deep in Confederate space, and are only deterred by open aggression from Confederate Second Fleet.

 **January 15:** The Confederacy abandons Mar Sara and begins fortifying the Core Worlds. The Council orders its fleets back to help defend against the zerg incursion. Mengsk suggests using the psi emitter technology uncovered from Markov to loose the zerg upon Tarsonis and end the war in a SoK/Council victory. After a vote, the local Council leaders agree.

 **January 16:** Mengsk unleashes the zerg upon Tarsonis, securing the title of biggest race traitor in human history. He betrays his Council allies by making sure the asari are in the path of the arriving Swarm. Adrien Victus attempts to save his allies to no avail. Several major elements of the SoK (including the Illusive Man, Jim Raynor, and Sarah Kerrigan,) abandon the SoK. By the end of the day, an estimated 1.63 billion humans die at the hands of the zerg.

 **January 17:** Raynor, Kerrigan, and the Illusive Man evacuate as much of New Gettysburg as possible before nuking it continuously to deny the zerg the remaining citizenry. They successfully escape Tarsonis before Mengsk can capture them. A further estimated 800 million colonials die at zerg hands and the continual nuclear detonations.

 **January 19:** The zerg invasion has now reached multiple volus worlds. Geth reinforcements have integrated with Council forces and combined geth/turian defensives begin to slightly turn the tide. Galactic zerg expansion still continues unchecked, however.

 **January 20:** The Quarian Migrant Fleet begins to threaten geth worlds. The situation quickly escalates, and an Admiralty Board vote pushes the quarians into outright war with the machines. The initial offensive is heavily in favor of the quarians.

 **January 22:** Arcturus Mengsk crowns himself Emperor of Humanity and declares the formation of the Terran Dominion to widespread applause. The UED orders his deposal and execution, despite the chaotic nature of the galaxy leaving analysts to recommend against any intervention in the short term.

 **January 23:** The Kel-Morian Combine learns of Tarsonis through the Illusive Man. Despite sharing an enemy, James Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan part ways with their ally, for the time being.

 **January 24:** Successful friendly contact is made between Raynor's Rangers and the protoss on Char. Following their extraction, they land on Chau Sara. The quarians have pushed to Rannoch.

 **January 25:** The Council is notified of the events of Tarsonis. Desperate for help against the still-spreading zerg, they comply with Mengsk's demands despite rightly wanting him dead. The Confederate treasury is turned over to mercenaries, and overtures are made to the Umojan Protectorate for support. Surviving members of the Old Families are wiped out as Mengsk calls the zerg on them. Mengsk announces the restructuring of the Ghost Program.

 **January 26:** The KMC launch several raids into Dominion space, the most notable being a slave-taking assault on Tyrador IV. This dampens local Dominion efforts to recruit support for the Council. The promised 400 strong battlecruiser fleet ends up being only around 363 due to border concerns. The quarians and geth are at a standstill.

 **January 27:** The protoss abandon Chau Sara. General Edmund Duke and Adrien Victus destroy the protoss structures in bitter retaliation for their previous action against the salarians.

 **January 28:** Rogue geth forces and elements of the Zerg Swarm attack the Citadel, seemingly from nowhere. The Reaper appears and closes the Citadel arms, but surprise reinforcements from Duke and the protoss result in its destruction. The zerg access the Tower and temporarily disable the relays.

 **January 29:** The zerg launch a massive offensive at the asari homeworld of Thessia. While asari defenders successfully inflict heavy zerg casualties, Armali is overrun. The Zerg Overmind manifests on Thessia.

 **January 30:** The Council gathers its allies (including the Batarian Hegemony, Protoss Expeditionary Fleet, and Umojan/Dominion/Ranger forces) to strike at Thessia. The protoss transport the allied fleets to Thessia.

 **February 1:** Two Cerebrates are slain, but the Overmind pulls Orbital Platform Siha on to the ground offensive with Its biotics. Council forces begin to abandon Thessia.

 **February 2:** Tassadar destroys the Zerg Overmind through unclear means. All zerg in the Athena Nebula go berserk, leaving the asari planets effectively uninhabitable. The relays unlock, and the asari begin evacuation efforts.

 **February 4:** The protoss arrive on Rannoch. What happens is unclear, but the fighting stops quickly. The Migrant Fleet abandons the system and proceeds directly to Relay 118.

 **February 5:** Donnel Udina officially welcomed on as the Terran Councilor. Udina begins his tenure by citing active Council legislation that mandates that all races with a seat be able, not only to secure their own borders and provide for their own people, but also help other Council races in need. The asari, by definition, no longer met this requirement. Sparatus and Udina vote in favor of removing Tevos from the Council. While there is widespread outrage, the asari are unable to do much, lest the Council withdraw from active relief efforts.

 **February 7:** Eden Prime declares its independence from the Dominion and establishes the Independent Terran Systems Alliance.

 **February 8:** Sarah Kerrigan and Saren Arterius are made Spectres. Jim Raynor apparently refuses.

 **February 11:** The quarian fleet launches through Relay 118. Their destination in the Koprulu Sector is unknown. The protoss have likewise vanished from known space.

 **February 14:** A salarian expedition to Therum finds it mostly devoid of zerg. There is no sign of the Cerebrate that lived there.

 **March 16:** Asari declare a cultural crisis. Many formerly rogue asari from the Terminus Systems now send support and military aid to their estranged cousins. Illium officially becomes part of the Republics, leveraging its might to become the new capital world.

 **March 20:** Unofficially known as the beginning of the turian/salarian cold war. Relations between the two grow frosty as they begin to fight over rights to existing Element Zero deposits. Element Zero prices spike.

 **April 3:** Blue Suns leader Zaeed Massani begins scouting out alternative alien markets at the behest of the Kel-Morian Combine. He discovers the Terminus Systems and sends back a brief, expletive riddled report.

 **May 4:** KMC sanctioned privateers, known colloquially as "ripper fleets," are sent into the Terminus Systems. Zaeed Massani and Donovan Hock lead each fleet respectively. The Council eventually condemns the action, though there is no physical evidence to implicate the KMC.

 **July 7:** The ripper fleets return to KMC space, laden with Element Zero and alien slaves. The KMC has also successfully caught the eye (and respect) of the notorious warlord Aria T'loak, as well as the Batarian Hegemony.

 **July 23:** First official estimate of necessary UED fleet size is given. Due to the salarian/turian arms race, however, analysts advise against a push for the time being.

 **October 9:** The Batarian Hegemony withdraws from the Council in protest at the lack of gratitude for their sacrifices on Thessia.

 **October 14:** The KMC and Hegemony have begun diplomatic overtures, eventually coming to several trade agreements. Council threats of economic sanctions fall on deaf ears, as most of their business is done in the Terminus Systems. Threats of blockading Relay 118 result in several brutal terrorist attacks on Council planets and the Citadel. The KMC begins searching for alternatives.

 **November 9:** The volus protest the lack of Hierarchy efforts to remove zerg infestation on Zada Ban and Daelon. The Hierarchy does not respond.

 **November 19:** Widespread volus rioting causes martial law to be declared in their space. Turian police actions are widely condemned by the Council.

 **November 28:** Volus ambassador Din Korlack writes the Irune Manifesto, declaring formal intent for volus independence. The Irune Ultranationalist movement is born.

 **December 25:** All Dominion attempts to secure deposits of Element Zero have failed. General Warfield suggests adopting a new strategy to defend against "inevitable Council retribution."

 **2501**

 **January 6:** The Ghost Program has been restructured. Over 55% of the surviving Confederate ghosts have been executed after their neural reprogramming was deemed too severe.

 **January 25:** The Geth Consensus establishes an embassy on the Citadel. Every attempt they make at diplomacy has to do with warning the galaxy of the Reapers. Only the turians pay any attention.

 **February 14:** The turians announce that they will no longer be obeying the Treaty of Farixen, citing the "Reaper threat" as the reason. A quick Council vote dissolves the Treaty, and tensions begin to climb.

 **March 1:** The ITSA begins receiving Dominion political refugees as well as asari refugees. Plans are made to begin colonization of Horizon as the numbers swell.

 **March 19:** Matriarch Aethyta begins a radical yet undeniably effective campaign to restructure what's left of the Asari Republics to be better militarized and more aggressive. Her slogan: "I'm sick of this democracy bullshit. Vote for me!"

 **April 5:** The Terran Dominion finds its efforts at controlling or otherwise manipulating alien politicians through psionic techniques stymied by Sarah Kerrigan. All high ranking alien officials have been trained in deflective mental techniques.

 **April 19:** Despite continual economic and military pressure, the asari finally officially refuse to sell the secrets of Silaris Armor to the turians.

 **May 3:** KMC pirates encounter a protoss scouting vessel orbiting an isolated gas giant and unwisely arouse its ire. The results of this encounter are recorded and released on the extranet, reigniting fear and awe of the still mostly absent protoss. The scouting vessel is never found.

 **June 1:** The Terran Dominion and Salarian Union formally declare support for the Irune Ultranationalist movement. Turians divert Seventh Fleet to patrol volus space, anticipating trouble.

 **June 17:** Official development of the KMC-Hegemony artificial vespene assisted relays, the Waygates, begins.

 **June 29:** The Council announces official warnings about not contacting protoss vessels.

 **July 17:** A major attempt is made to begin retaking Thessia. The resulting slaughter dissuades anyone from the idea of feasibility. Bombing the planet is ruled out due to ruining the deposits of eezo that would make recapture worthwhile in the first place.

 **July 21:** The UED suppresses civil unrest in South American regions. Admiral Alexei Stukov orders UED agents to begin tapping into colonial adjutant databanks for information on the aliens.

 **September 3:** Protoss vessels are seen fighting each other close to the ice planet Braxis. Several of them bear unfamiliar designs and a coloration of purple and silver, rather than the signature gold.

 **September 17:** The value of Element Zero has tripled over the course of a year. The Salarian Union has taken the Asari Republic's place as the galactic economic powerhouse, though many of their interests are threatened by the turians.

 **September 25:** The KMC based mercenary company known as the Blue Suns begins establishing headquarters in Hegemony and Terminus space.

 **November 4:** Krogan attempts to cure the Genophage with zerg tissue end horribly badly – Tuchanka experiences partial infestation. The infamous infested krogan strain, the Viscerators, make their first appearance. Warlord Okeer is exiled from Tuchanka.

 **December 18:** The first Waygate prototype is created, but the KMC and Hegemony are still years from a fully complete version.

 **2502**

 **February 2:** The UED experiences a brief scare when an intelligence analyst believes she has been detected by Umojan security systems. The scare proves false.

 **February 30:** UED analysts still advise against colonial reclamation. The Expeditionary Fleet is rechristened the Expeditionary Armada.

 **March 3:** The Turian Hierarchy begins formally listening to volus complaints. They still declare that secession will be met with swift retribution, and that they would show the same mercy to volus separatists that they would to turian separatists: none.

 **March 11:** Quarians begin appearing in Dominion space, although they are tight-lipped about the location of the Migrant Fleet.

 **March 19:** Jim Raynor formally settles down on Eden Prime to be a marshal there, for the time being.

 **March 27:** The Terran Dominion begins production of _Daedelus_ class dreadnoughts. They also begin the slow yet steady process of phasing out _Behemoth_ battlecruisers in favor of _Minotaurs._

 **April 17:** Food riots in Argentina result in the first major police action the UED has had to take since its formation. The official casualty estimate is never given. New UED technologies find themselves tested on unarmed civilians.

 **May 9:** The elcor formally ally themselves with the ITSA and begin joint settling of worlds together. Horizon and Freedom's Progress are a direct result of that collaboration.

 **May 20:** Blood Pack mercenaries cause a stir when they begin hiring infested vorcha. Debates regarding the possible rehabilitation of infested individuals begin to arise, though they are for the most part not taken seriously.

 **June 31:** Infested vorcha have become a common sight on Heshtok. Their extended lifespan and replenishing adaptation cells threaten to cause a vorcha cultural and evolutionary renaissance. Vorcha begin deliberately infecting themselves with the Zerg Hyper-Evolutionary Virus.

 **September 4:** Elcor efforts to contact their infested brethren end in tragedy. Dekuunalisks appear to be incurably insane and universally violent.

 **September 22:** Protoss are sighted around Halcyon, but nothing is recorded. It is widely believed to be a hoax, but even the Council acknowledges there is no way to be sure.

 **November 6:** The Waygate system is still under development. The Council's economic sanctions have severely damaged the Hegemony's standard of life, and batarian pirates and refugees become extremely common. The Blue Suns begins aggressively recruiting batarians, and batarian refugees are welcomed into the KMC's space. They are not treated well.

 **December 1:** Skeptics have emerged in the UED, claiming the Expeditionary Armada will never be finished, and is merely there to distract citizenry from "real problems." Unsurprisingly, these skeptics are found and quickly subject to familial purging. There are no more complaints.

 **December 17:** The KMC/Dominion cold war begins. The borders of the Dominion are set, and both sides begin to posture aggressively. Despite barely having an official military force, the KMC does not back down.

 **December 29:** At this point, the Umojan Protectorate begins distancing itself diplomatically from the Dominion. Sometime during the year, they apparently learned of Tarsonis.

 **2503**

 **January 4:** Juliana Pasteur, mother of Mengsk's child, dies. Mengsk's lack of a reaction becomes infamous, and the Umojans are outraged.

 **January 31:** Mengsk declares his son, Valerian Mengsk, to be the heir apparent.

 **February 1:** No less than four separate assassination attempts are made on Mengsk in the same day. The Salarian Union, KMC, Asari Republics, and Umojan Protectorate are blamed respectively.

 **February 14:** Councilor Valern retires, replaced by Dalatrass Hiron. She adopts a far harder stance against the turians than he, and Sparatus finds himself unable to bully the salarians any longer. Udina is still sidelined.

 **March 1:** The first official Waygate test ends in the destruction of the vessel that was tested.

 **March 5:** The first major KMC/Dominion skirmish. Dominion casualties are far higher than anticipated by both the Dominion itself and the UED.

 **March 17:** Blue Suns has established itself as a major mercenary group in both Council space and the Terminus Systems. Rumors of slave trading and drug running are cheerfully denied by Zaeed Massani and Vido Santiago.

 **April 2:** A frustrated UED intelligence analyst finally verifies elements of former Confederate military forces within the KMC. They are still unable to determine their identities or numbers, though the Illusive Man is suspected to be among them.

 **April 8:** The Dominion completes the construction of their Fifth Fleet, and immediately begins work on the Sixth.

 **April 19:** The second Waygate test results in the "mere" death of the dummy crew, with the vessel still mostly intact.

 **April 27:** Heshtok has become universally populated by infested vorcha. Non-infested vorcha have become a rarity in the galaxy. Oddly, the infestation's increase in vorcha lifespan has resulted in increased interest in education and societal development. Asari philanthropists on Heshtok are puzzled and horrified by the development, and Heshtok is declared a no-fly zone.

 **May 7:** UED officials conclude that there is no mass relay present in the Sol system. Furthermore, there are no signs of former alien habitation, making the human race an outlier among other known alien species. Armada development continues.

 **May 20:** The Umojan Protectorate and ITSA begin to engage in discreet trade relations. The Protectorate finally gains access to a ready supply of Element Zero.

 **May 27:** The third Waygate test ends the same way as the second, frustrating the KMC and batarian scientists.

 **June 2:** The Irune Ultranationalist movement has had enough of turian politics. A vote is held to formally secede from the Hierarchy.

 **June 4:** After much controversy, the motion fails. The volus will be unable to declare another vote like it for four years. Volus ambassador Din Korlack resigns in disgust.

 **June 5:** A volus riot is ended with turian orbital bombardment. The brutality of the action is condemned by the Council, and the turians agree to begin disarming, to the protest of the geth.

 **June 26:** The geth formally close their embassy and announce the closure of their borders. Salarian intelligence reports a massive buildup in geth weapons platforms and ship numbers, but their fleet movements are not aggressive. The STG begins taking the Reaper threat more seriously.

 **September 8:** Alien temples have begun unearthing themselves on several worlds. The Dominion declares a ban on the trade of ancient alien artifacts and begins excavating the temples.

 **September 14:** The protoss make a rare appearance, and even contact the Dominion. They try to warn the Dominion away from the temples and are ignored.

 **September 22:** Three Dominion dig teams end up dead, no sign of resistance. The Dominion abandons the majority of their digs.

 **September 29:** The Dominion engages protoss forces over Braxis. The battle is brief, but the presence of a _Daedelus_ dreadnought allowed the Dominion to emerge victorious.

 **September 30:** Mengsk announces the first outright military victory over the protoss. General Edmund Duke is showered with praise while the Council condemns the action but cannot be bothered to do more than that.

 **October 2:** Jim Raynor leaves Eden Prime and becomes a common sight in the Terminus Systems. Despite having documented personal disagreements with Zaeed Massani, he is repeatedly hired by the Blue Suns as an independent contractor.

 **October 28:** Arcturus Mengsk experiences a record-breaking nine assassination attempts in one day, all of them foiled by the ghost known as Nova Terra. His dry official reaction through the media cements him as the most popular terran extranet personality in the galaxy.

 **November 9:** The Waygate program finally conducts a successful Waygate test: a KMC battlecruiser is transported from Moria to Khar'shan with little discomfort. The KMC credits former Old Family member Miranda Lawson for the breakthrough that made this possible. It is noted that the Waygates still consume enormous amounts of Vespene gas, and the process could be made more efficient.

 **November 13:** The KMC begins Waygate production.

 **November 24:** The Dominion/KMC border dispute heats up again. This time the KMC experiences the brunt of the casualties as _Daedelus_ dreadnoughts rip through their own ships with ease.

 **November 26:** The KMC begins aggressive recruitment of Terminus elements to defend their borders. The Blue Suns receive the largest defense contract in their history.

 **December 9:** The UED notes a weakness to potential salarian cyberwarfare due to salarian familiarity with colonial computer systems (on which much of their own code is still based.) The Enhanced Defense Intelligence project begins on Lunar Base.

 **2504**

 **March 7:** Seven Waygates have been constructed, and the Terminus hub known as Omega now has a direct connection with both Khar'shan and Moria. Both the KMC and Hegemony reap the economic benefits of the newly opened and tremendously convenient trade route.

 **March 12:** The ITSA repels its first pirate raid at Elysium with its mostly undeveloped fleet. Local militia forces prove themselves capable in the process.

 **March 19:** Raynor's Raiders accepts an elcor contract to join up with their fleet and retaliate for the attack on Elysium.

 **March 27:** The ITSA and elcor launch an attack on Torfan. The resulting bloodshed is surprisingly extensive, as Terminus reinforcements from Khar'shan were prompt in their response.

 **March 30:** After inflicting extensive casualties, the ITSA/elcor task force retreated. Jim Raynor, knowing who the guilty parties were, decides to launch phantom raids in the Terminus Systems.

 **May 9:** Raynor's Raiders's campaign resulted in the rarest of occurrences: an official apology from Aria T'loak and reparations paid to the ITSA. The Raider attacks cease at ITSA request.

 **July 4:** Mengsk announces the near complete restoration of New Augustgrad, the capital of Korhal. "Korhal will bloom again," he promises.

 **July 18:** The EDI program goes berserk, and Lunar Base is severely compromised. Swift action by Captain Anderson and the forces under his command lead to the shutdown of the AI.

 **October 6:** The EDI project resumes, this time with far more fail safes and with far lower expectations. The AI would be shackled.

 **October 20:** Tensions flare as the turians elect to cease disarmament. Quarians have begun appearing in ITSA space.

 **October 30:** The protoss assault Braxis again. This time, the Dominion is forced to retreat. When Third and Fourth return days later, there is no sign of the protoss.

 **November 9:** Matriarch Aethyta declares that the asari will resume production of dreadnoughts and pursue reentry into the Council. She is widely mocked by the batarians.

 **November 21:** The Dominion issues a stern warning to the Hegemony: presence of their ships on the KMC/Dominion border would result in severe reprisal. The Waygates slowly become common knowledge, and the salarians in particular are not amused. The KMC threatens to overtake the volus in economic might, and the Hegemony economy is now larger than the asari's.

 **December 5:** UED analysts concur that the time to invade is almost nigh: the galaxy is poised for a massive war. Dominion findings indicate that, at current rates of economic and military development, the KMC would be a more powerful entity than them by 2508. Mengsk begins preparation for invasion with turian blessing.

 **December 28:** Sarah Kerrigan participates in a daring raid alongside Jondum Bau and Saren Arterius to destroy an Omega Waygate. They are successful.

 **2505**

 **January 8:** The EDI project successfully creates an advanced AI. It is installed on to Armada ship systems in lieu of adjutants. It is judged 675% more effective, but the expense in terms of both money and life lost is questionable. Admiral DuGalle in particular has reservations about the worth of the program.

 **January 16:** UED intelligence analysts suffer a scare after examining a cluster chart of where deep space probes had mysteriously gone missing. They judge an 8% chance of the Salarian Union being aware of the UED's existence and intentions, a 15% chance of the protoss being aware, and a staggering 37% chance of the KMC at least having some knowledge.

 **February 9:** The Umojan Protectorate tries to bring up the idea of exposing Tarsonis to the galaxy at large in a private Council session, and are rebuffed. Udina becomes increasingly bitter and disillusioned both with the Council and the nature of humanity.

 **February 10:** Jim Raynor is seen fighting alongside KMC forces on the Dominion border. A hacked email exchange between Mengsk and Warfield reveals the disturbing obsession Mengsk has for Raynor.

 **February 17:** A massive Dominion offensive is carried into KMC space, ostensibly to find and capture Jim Raynor. While they are unsuccessful, the Dominion makes significant gains into KMC space.

 **February 28:** Another Spectre operation to destroy a Waygate is carried out, this time at Khar'shan. Jondum Bau and Nihlus Kryik are killed, but the Waygate is destroyed. The Hegemony swears vengeance, but are hushed by the KMC, who are still bleeding from the Dominion assault.

 **March 9:** The UED finally announces an official launch date for the Armada: January 13, 2506 – the sixth anniversary of the Directorate.

 **May 1:** Turian and salarian ships clash over Zada Ban. Volus forces make noises for both sides to stop fighting, but ultimately side with the turians. The Ultranationalist movement is disgusted.

 **May 7:** Turian dreadnought official count at 46. Both the Dominion and Salarian Union harbor doubts about the Hierarchy's honesty.

 **May 19:** Reports of strange alien vessels seen near ITSA colonies. The protoss are suspected, but no evidence is found.

 **May 26:** A clash between KMC and Dominion forces leads to nuclear bombardment of Kalem-VI. While it was not a garden world, Council forces are still appalled at the brutality of the action – over eight million KMC citizens are estimated to have been killed.

 **June 8:** The Turian Hierarchy has fully implemented eezo enhanced power armor to its infantry. New Dominion military simulations reveal their own marines are now at a distinct disadvantage. The UED runs its own simulations and adjusts their threat rating of the Hierarchy accordingly.

 **June 17:** Evidence is found of past alien colonization of Mars, but the traces are very faint and nothing tangible remains. The UED is left with more questions than answers regarding the xel'naga and protheans.

 **June 29:** The Umojan Protectorate has finally completed its own dreadnoughts, and begins long term plans to fully politically divorce themselves from the Dominion and expose Tarsonis.

 **August 9:** The Asari Republics finally replace their First Fleet and are working on a _Destiny Ascension_ replacement (tentatively named _Ascension Resurgent._ ) The asari military as a whole has swelled to half again its size from before the Great War, though they still lack ships. Dominion military assessments place the asari as a potentially greater threat than the Hegemony and KMC, if their attention were to be turned their way. Aethyta's efforts paid off.

 **August 27:** The UED has finished the Armada. Specialized training of the ship crews is almost completed. The Dominion is identified as the first target.

 **September 5:** Reports of a still active zerg brood creep in from Dominion space. Like many protoss reports, however, there is no evidence to be found.

 **September 17:** More protoss sightings over Braxis. The Dominion, however, still shifts forces away from that sector of space to shore up the KMC border.

 **September 28:** The KMC and Hegemony are now discussing plans to permanently link their governments in some fashion. Waygates have been continually reinforced to prevent further Spectre incursions or attacks from Council fleets.

 **October 11:** Volus Ultranationalists circulate footage of turian brutality. This time, the salarians threaten outright action; ITSA and the Asari Republics are quick to add their voices. The Hierarchy suddenly finds itself vulnerable.

 **October 19:** Umojans claim a visit from the protoss. If they are to be believed, the protoss will be returning to the galactic scene soon – and will be paying a visit to the Citadel in particular.

 **October 24:** The Dominion is approached by salarians about the validity of removing the Genophage to allow krogan to fight turians for them in the coming war. The irony is not lost on the salarians.

 **November 4:** The KMC and Dominion border is now the most heavily fortified area of space in the galaxy. The Dominion's flank, so to speak, is exposed.

 **November 13:** The UED debates whether to attempt to establish human superiority (in which humanity is the dominant race in the galaxy) or human supremacy (where humanity reigns over the alien species directly.) The latter is judged to be the end goal and worth pursuing, but not realistic at this time. The public is still assured of the Armada's victory.

 **November 21:** Quarian vessels are sighted in Dominion space for the first time in years. They vanish before they can be approached. The UED suspects protoss involvement.

 **November 30:** Protoss vessels sighted in geth space. The geth curtly confirm a protoss presence but the borders remain closed.

 **December 17:** The UED considers postponing the launch of the Armada, but Hackett and Stukov rule against it.

 **December 20:** More trouble with piracy in ITSA space. Contact is lost with Horizon.

 **December 25:** Contact is lost with Freedom's Progress.

 **December 31:** ITSA reports an attack on Elysium, but were unable to identify the attackers. Casualties were reportedly high.

 **January 11:** UED analysts are baffled as Terra Nova is hit by an unknown force. Casualties are again high, and the Council moves to high alert.

 **January 13:** The UED Expeditionary Armada launches. Our hopes and dreams go with them.


	2. Terran Dominion Threat Analysis

Admiral Stukov,

Allow me first to extend formal greetings and fervent thanks at being assigned a task as interesting and prestigious as this! I am pleased to inform you that the underlying tech in colonial technology (namely the inbuilt ATLAS "deactivation" and adjutant infiltration sequence - Doran Routhe may have been a madman but he was quite thorough at least) has allowed us extranet access and to tap into non-secured transmissions and databanks with a detection likelihood of less than 0.13%.

Their technology, while it has since diverged, is still utterly dependent in several fundamental ways on what they scavenged from the wrecks of the prison ships. The risk of detection was, as stated, minimal (at least for the Dominion,) and we were able to secure a great deal of data in a short span of time. I am delighted to report that the bulk of the work was filtering for relevant data rather than scrounging fruitlessly for scraps of information regarding our distant relatives. I pray that you find this information satisfactory.

Well, let's get on with it, shall we?

-Major Gustav Sokolof

 **Political and Threat Analysis: Terran Dominion**

 **History: Founding**

I feel a brief preface to the current status of the Terran Dominion is in order, if only to keep it fresh in your mind, Admiral. Its recent history is intricately bound both with the demise of the Terran Confederacy (its predecessor) and first contact between humanity and the Citadel Council.

In brief: Arcturus Mengsk's family was murdered by Confederate psi operatives for daring to consider secession, prompting him to lead a relatively successful rebellion with Umojan support from his home planet of Korhal. In the kind of crass retaliation the colonials are known for, the Confederacy bombed Korhal with nuclear warheads until the planet was nothing more than radioactive ash. Sadly, Arcturus Mengsk was not present on the planet's surface, prompting him to shed what few scruples he had left in favor of utterly destroying the government he had once fought for. The Sons of Korhal (SoK) were formed.

Opportunity came in the form of a drifting and disabled turian warship in the proximity of Mar Sara. Boarding the vessel, SoK marines found several badly wounded turians sailors and a turian general, one Adrien Victus. After vivisecting several of the sailors, ghost operative Sarah Kerrigan discovered (to her likely joy - revolting) that the general actually stood a chance to live. With the kind of quick thinking and opportunistic tendencies he would later continually demonstrate to the detriment of his fellow man, Arcturus Mengsk instructed his resident psychic to attempt to establish communication with the general. To the eternal sorrow of literally everyone save Mengsk involved, she was successful.

Contact with the Council proper shortly followed. Again, Mengsk displayed quick thinking in turning the woefully hostile first contact with the protoss into his personal gain. Deliberately downplaying his own abilities and resources at his disposal, Mengsk made a lopsided deal with the Council, offering them numerous technologies in return for military aid. The Council, likely thinking they were dealing with an overeager and naïve politician of a young species, accepted.

The military actions that followed were numerous. Suffice to say, the breakdown is this: General Edmund Duke and his Alpha Squadron were recruited into the SoK. SoK propaganda caused widespread civil unrest among the Confederate planets. Mengsk acquired the Psi Emitter. Mengsk used the Psi Emitter. Tarsonis fell, the alien fleets were crippled, and the Council was successfully further extorted into granting the colonials a seat in their government. As the Confederacy died, Mengsk crowned himself Emperor of Humanity and declared the founding of the Terran Dominion.

On a final note before proceeding, it is clear that Arcturus Mengsk – heinous bastard that he is – is not a man to be underestimated. I firmly recommend he receive his own dossier along with the other notable race traitors, Sarah Kerrigan and Donnel Udina.

 **Recent History – the End of the Great War and Interim**

Arcturus Mengsk was well aware that his Terran Dominion existed purely due to his considerable treachery, and his allegiances with the Umojan Protectorate and Citadel Council would shortly self-destruct unless immediate action was taken. If the Council finished the zerg, he would be next, and a zerg victory would not be any better.

The first threat to his regime came as the Kel-Morian Combine (likely spurred on by that damn black ops team we have failed to thus far document – it exists, I swear!) pressed the borders literally hours after the declaration of his new government. A small team of KMC rippers made planetfall on Tyrador IV, coming away laden with vespene and fresh slaves. The brutality and swiftness of this attack significantly lessened the enthusiasm of Dominion military leaders at the prospect of sending more troops away from the border. Decisive action was needed.

After pressing into his service every available Confederate soldier that still stood and hiring a small fleet of KMC mercenaries (emptying out what was left of the Confederate treasury in the process,) Mengsk contacted his Umojan allies and promised the Dominion's seat on the Council to them in return for swift military aid. Still unaware of Mengsk's vile crimes on Tarsonis, the Protectorate agreed.

The Battle of Thessia (or _for_ Thessia, if you're asari and particularly prone to denial) requires its own separate section to discuss. The end result was this: the Umojan Protectorate and Terran Dominion ended up with a shared seat on the Council, the Terran Dominion supplied widespread relief to regions still devastated by the zerg while mapping out every single planet they came across discretely (thanks – a very large help!) and noting potential future colonization sites. Sarah Kerrigan firmly cemented herself as the second largest race traitor in mankind's history by accepting Spectrehood, and the Independent Terran Systems Alliance (ITSA) was founded by Mar Sara survivors who were tipped off about Dominion atrocities by their resident asari matriarch, Aethyta.

The aftermath was a government left beholden to and hated by literally every agency it was ostensibly allied with. The Turian Hierarchy's leadership in particular wanted revenge, and were only stymied by the oft promised but now finally delivered schematics for Warp Drive technology and the by now famous CMC suits.

With his alien allies sufficiently bribed by a combination of relief efforts and supplied technologies, Mengsk began taking pains to secure trade relations with as many species as possible, primarily to acquire Element Zero. Sadly, the salarian-turian cold war was primed to begin, and the Dominion's fledgling economy could not keep up with the species' respective governments as they began buying up all available eezo.

Nor were their efforts to turn to more criminal markets successful. The Blue Suns mercenary group had been hired by the KMC to scope out "alternative alien markets" and swiftly stumbled upon the Terminus Systems. The KMC, as the sole terran faction with no ties nor a desire to create any with the Citadel Council, began exploring this new sector of space with both enthusiasm and what can be best described as "extreme prejudice." The KMC privateer fleets that ripped through that sector of space are still infamous to this day.

As a result, the Terran Dominion found itself in a very unpleasant position. The aliens they were supposedly on equal footing with on the Council were now staring daggers at each other while for the most part ignoring the human ambassador in favor of trading barely disguised threats. The main alternative market, the Terminus Systems, was ill-disposed to accept more belligerent colonials into their space, and the few residents who did establish friendly contact with the KMC were quickly warned away from the Dominion.

Finally, Mengsk was not quite confident in his ability to establish Dominion colonies outside the Koprulu Sector. He may have fed one turian fleet to the zerg, but the remaining twelve were both still relatively intact and undeniably aggressive. His restructuring of the Ghost Academy (which mainly involved purging the ghosts too far gone to neural reprogramming to be trusted in his new Dominion) likewise proved to be less effective than he would have hoped at predicting and controlling his "allies;" Sarah Kerrigan's first act as Council Spectre was to begin training high ranking alien politicians in mind techniques to deflect probing.

After a year of scrabbling to find some new advantageous position in the chaotic galaxy he had helped create, Arcturus Mengsk came to the conclusion that there was no easy high ground to be had this time. At the advice of his longtime associate General Warfield, Mengsk decided to give up on the eezo pipe dream for the time being. With Thessia's severe infestation, strip mining the planet was too cost-prohibitive, and all other sources of eezo were being staked out by forces far greater than his fledgling Dominion. Warfield recommended that they instead focus on what strengths they still had over their "friends," rather than expending all of their resources on just barely compensating for their weaknesses.

Having established control of the media and penal systems, Mengsk began a massive recruitment drive. Neural resocialization rates quickly spiked to a level hitherto unseen, even in the most corrupt days of the Terran Confederacy. Political dissidents, captured KMC citizens, and the rare actual criminal were all thrown into the now-raging Dominion war machine. The Ghost Academy likewise began aggressively probing its populace, looking for any colonial with even the faintest hint of psionic potential.

More conventional forms of recruitment were tried as well. Mengsk made frequent public appearances in these days, frequently noting that there was no greater honor or sacrifice than to serve the Dominion's fighting forces, and making quite certain that past Council atrocities (particularly the Genophage) were not only available to the public, but quite visible. His debates with reporter Emily Wong, who had served briefly with the SoK, quickly became legendary; the man's ability to either spin or deny any wrongdoing of his is frankly astounding.

Mengsk's status as a media darling paid off in dividends. I can only share the Council's frustration (sickening a concept as that may be) as I look at the enlistment rates from 2501 to 2506 – by 2504 the number of non-resocialized Dominion troops actually outnumbered the resocialized ones, something the Confederacy had never accomplished. A fear of the unknown coupled with a government that was willing to say or do quite literally _anything_ to insure its populace's compliance and submission lead to a spike in patriotism. Mengsk's past speech pegging Council species as reasonable beings (just gave it another listen – clever bastard never referred to _any_ of the Council members by name) was spun as having meant the asari in particular – whom the turians had pushed off the Council as soon as they were able. It was not the full truth, but it was close enough to sound reasonable.

Mengsk and Warfield also brought the considerable industrial potential of the Dominion to bear. While they might be blocked off from the eezo market, they were still the largest terran faction in known space, and they had the population and equipment to demonstrate it. After repairing the damage the zerg had wrought their outer worlds and retaking several key planets such as Char and Chau Sara and partially restoring Korhal to its former glory, the Dominion began the lengthy and costly process of developing counter technologies and additional fleets to better defend their borders against what they saw as inevitable Council reprisal.

 **Military Doctrine**

The specific technologies they developed deserve a different section. A brief summary: they concluded that they could not match the Council fleet's numbers or maneuverability, but they could still leverage their considerable superiority in several aspects of ground warfare to make any ambitious turian general think twice before jumping through Relay-118.

The Dominion is currently comprised of six major fleets. With the Treaty of Farixen having since been dissolved ostensibly "to allow the Turian Hierarchy to better prepare for the oncoming Reaper threat," General Warfield has aggressively pursued research into dreadnought technology, culminating in the creation of _Daedelus_ dreadnoughts. _Minotaur_ class battlecruisers have also supplanted the _Behemoth_ as the primary design, and were designed with contesting turian cruisers and heavy cruisers in particular.

The main feature and indeed primary asset of the _Minotaur_ battlecruiser is its versatility. It has trouble surviving sustained fire from enemy cruisers, but can still suffer severe system damage and launch its Yamato in retaliation. They carry complements of fighters, but not in any great number. The _Viking_ turned out to be a bust, but the _Crusader_ fighters, with their cloaking capabilities and Haywire missiles, have proven an able replacement for the aging _Wraith_. Each battlecruiser also carries a very large complement of infantry and armor – everywhere the Dominion fleet goes, it is prepared for any eventuality in the orbit and on the ground. Their Warp Drives mean that no enemy can force an engagement in deep space – which means that every engagement will take place near a planetary body. As such, every battlecruiser comes equipped with the parts necessary to quickly create powerful ground-to-orbit weaponry such as ion cannons, or bring heavy weapons platforms such as the Thor to bear.

Once on the ground, the Dominion will very quickly take pains to insure their superior infantry and armor are not immediately incinerated by the enemy fleet. This is primarily done by spacing out ground teams as much as possible and then moving battlecruisers between the enemy fleet and the planet, if they had not done so already. Any enemy vessels that do manage to achieve a line of fire will find themselves targeted by every available Yamato gun and _Crusader_ the fleet can spare. For the most part, that should be enough.

As for insertions on already fortified and hostile worlds, the Dominion prefers simple nuclear bombardment of enemy strongholds, which all battlecruisers are fitted for. If bombardment is not an option due to the planet in question being a garden world (and the Council is watching,) the Dominion has trained its marines extensively in dropping from orbit and being ready to fight the very instant they deploy from their pod. The advent of reinforced titanium alloy personal combat shields and the development of the CMC-550 suit has also extended the life expectancy of terran marines under heavy fire from five seconds to eleven seconds (impressive – more than half of our own marines' lifespan when backed with medics) giving them surprising resiliency when storming enemy fortifications. When backed with Goliath and siege tank support, they become quite a force to be reckoned with – I am forced to concur with Warfield's assessment that, assuming a successful drop deployment of at least 75% and not being outnumbered by a factor of more than 3-1, the Terran Dominion should win any and all ground engagements against the Council so long as the Council does not establish orbital superiority. That might sound a little specific or unlikely, but I assure you, every Dominion officer is aware of those numbers and will push for those advantages the very moment they engage an enemy force.

That being said, Admiral DuGalle has been known to say that, "He who holds the orbit holds victory," and the Dominion's frantic attempts to prevent that from holding true in the face of the Council threat is more than slightly questionable. Defensive actions in the Koprulu Sector, however, are much more viable thanks to already existing gun emplacements and other surface to orbit weapons - each Dominion world bristles with defenses. Mengsk is determined to hold his territory.

Dominion tactics against the protoss and other human factions naturally differ. The official doctrine (wherever it is not "run away") against the protoss is to simply outnumber them by as much as possible and drown out the sound of the impending death of most of your marines with siege tank fire. As protoss skirmishes are extremely rare (and where they are in evidence, leave few colonial survivors) the efficacy of this tactic is very suspect and subject to change with every fresh protoss engagement. Fortunately for mankind as a whole, these appear increasingly unlikely, as the protoss have proven ever more reclusive in these past six years.

Against other humans, the Terran Dominion prefers simple shock and awe tactics such as their superior fleet numbers and nuclear arsenal to deflate enemy morale and shatter hardpoints. Dominion marines and siege tank crews are unrelentingly aggressive in their dedication to taking objectives and their willingness to absorb casualties. The KMC does not carry that same enthusiasm, while the Umojan Protectorate and TISA have neither the numbers nor the political freedom to even feel comfortable engaging the Dominion in the first place.

 **Political Relations**

 **Turian Hierarchy:** The turians have a hard time achieving a consensus on humanity as a whole, but they are quite clear on the Terran Dominion: Arcturus Mengsk and all who serve him are irredeemable scum, and the inevitable retribution for their blatant political extortion and favoring of the Salarian Union (the official reason – the leadership is far more likely to cite Tarsonis) cannot be too long in coming. It is all but certain that, assuming the Salarian Union and Irune Ultranationalists are sufficiently dealt with, the Terran Dominion will be the next to feel the Empire's wrath. A turian flotilla is present at all times near Relay-118, officially there to guard the Relay against potential zerg or protoss incursions, but mostly there to monitor Dominion fleet movements.

Where the turians do deign to have political relations with the Terran Dominion, it is incredibly frosty and marked by hostility that just barely does not qualify as naked. It is not an unreasonable assumption that, should the Expeditionary Armada phrase its mission statement as the reclamation of wayward colonies in the face of moral bankruptcy, the Hierarchy will stand aside. The Terran Dominion and Kel-Morian Combine do not inspire confidence in them. We bear the birds no more love than Arcturus Mengsk (though I will admit grudging respect for their military capabilities and discipline) but they will not realize this until it is much too late to adjust their course.

 **Salarian Union:** The salarians have come to embrace the Terran Dominion as "useful idiots." They might admire terrans on an individual basis and have a particular admiration for the Umojan Protectorate's scientific and intelligence prowess, but the Dominion is seen as little more than the one government that can tip the scales away from the turians in an all-out galactic war between their two peoples.

The salarians have been carefully supplying small amounts of eezo as well as vital intelligence to the Dominion to further bring the balance of power in their favor, but Mengsk is well aware of the score. His ghosts have thus far prevented the vast majority of the Union's attempts to plant bugs and spies in his own networks, but Sarah Kerrigan's continual presence and training of Spectres and STG personnel are slowly having their effect. As such, the Union is one of three factions that has a non-dismissible probability of being aware of the possibility of UED incursion. They might not stand aside when we declare our intent, particularly as they may easily come to the correct conclusion that we are not remotely pliable by any standards, let alone the Terran Dominion's.

 **Asari Republics (Remnants):** The Remnants are in a state of duality regarding the Dominion. The leadership loathes the Dominion with a fiery passion that actually sounds frightening to witness, while the average citizen sees them as being grumpier and less educated than the average terran, but still worthy of thanks for the aid given following the Great War. It appears that Udina's role in their loss of their Council seat has been successfully shifted to the turians - which makes sense given the Hierarchy's gains in the interim vastly outstrip the Protectorate's or Dominion's.

Asari-terran relations have been relatively common in the aftermath, and several asari count themselves as both citizens of the Dominion and the Remnants. The commonality in morphology is appealing to the asari, while those oriented towards the female persuasion within the Dominion, at the very least, find much to appreciate.

Arcturus Mengsk, shockingly enough, has a major cult following among Remnant citizens, which is quite disgusting given what we know of their actual history together. His charisma and obvious intelligence has charmed many of the younger maidens, and a well-known extranet meme involves asari stating "the father of my future children" after mentioning Mengsk as some kind of pseudo-title. Ignoring his other crimes for a moment, this is the greatest reason I want to see the man dead. I can only imagine the kind of hatred and outrage this must elicit among the Matriarchs, particularly High Matriarch Aethyta. It is quite a reasonable assumption that their leadership will adopt a neutral stance on our reclamation, citing it as "terran business." I wonder how well they will conceal their glee.

There is a significant presence of asari refugees in Dominion space, and they are treated well, for the most part. The physical resemblances do much to smooth over relations between the two peoples. That being said, High Matriarch Aethyta's continual militarization of the asari peoples has been a cause of significant alarm for Mengsk; recent combat simulations have continually painted his own grounds forces as coming second best against this supposedly "shattered" and "broken" race.

 **Kel-Morian Combine:** Unsurprisingly, the inheritors of the Confederate legacy have a toxic relationship with their closest neighbors. At best, the two colonial governments have a cold war that erupts only bi-monthly into blatant fighting. At worst, the border disputes devolve into exchange of nuclear weapons fire and limited fleet engagements that grow dangerously close to heavily populated Dominion and KMC worlds. Disputes over mineral-rich planets are common, and never end amicably.

Intel suggests that there may be former Confederate military elements within the KMC that are serving as agitators within their government. The frequent engagements are often far costlier than the KMC would historically be comfortable with, but Dominion casualties are also, without error, far higher than I would have predicted. I sense the hand of that damn black ops agency again – I will find evidence of their existence sooner or later, I swear it!

 **Umojan Protectorate:** It did not take long for the Protectorate to discover what had transpired over Tarsonis, but unfortunately by that time they were no longer in a position to do anything about it. They divorced themselves from the Dominion as much as possible and began assigning Shadowguards to begin infiltration and sabotage of the Dominion military machine. Sadly, they found themselves stymied both by Dominion ghosts and STG operatives – the salarians are not yet willing to let anyone cripple their idiots.

As it stands, the relations between the two governments are extremely frosty, but by necessity interactions between them are both frequent and without visible conflict. The backlash of the death of Juliana Pasteur and Mengsk's subsequent utter lack of an emotional reaction was only mitigated by declaring their son the heir apparent (amusingly, this increased the number of attempts on our beloved emperor's life by a factor of ten.) Donnel Udina, race traitor that he is, has an utterly unenviable job – working for a Council that despises him and the people he represents, while also loathing the more powerful of those two peoples. He deserves a swift death, at the very least. His political machinations, even the major mistakes, have given us the opening we need to begin the reclamation.

 **Independent Terran Systems Alliance:** They would not have seceded from the Dominion if they did not have a problem with it. They know exactly what happened over Tarsonis, and while they may be forbidden of speaking of it under pain of Hierarchy reprisal, they make their displeasure known whenever possible.

Unfortunately, that is about all they can do, aside from flaunt their ready access to Element Zero to Dominion politicians whenever possible. If anything, their frequent thumbing of their noses at the Dominion has engendered more hatred at the ITSA than the ITSA bear for the Dominion. The fact that the ITSA is possibly the least politically viable target for invasion in the entirety of the known galaxy (seriously, possible ties to the protoss?! We need to get our hands on Jim Raynor) is all that keeps the ITSA from swift obliteration and assimilation by the Dominion.

 **Hanar Ascendancy:** No known contact and considerable cosmic distance prohibits either government from showing much more than cursory interest in one another.

 **Elcor Remnants:** The only terran faction with any ties to the elcor would be the ITSA (naturally.) Even ignoring the fact that there are hardly any left, there is little overlap in interests in any case.

 **Irune Ultranationalists:** Unsurprisingly, the Terran Dominion has been quite vocal in its support for the separatist movement. Seeing as Hierarchy relations were doomed from the moment Mengsk set the zerg on Council forces, this was probably a wise move. While the Nationalists are canny enough to recognize Dominion manipulation and selfish intentions for what they are, support is support, and they will accept it grudgingly, for the time being. The fact that they share a mutual hatred for the upstart KMC only brings them closer together.

 **Terminus Systems:** The Terminus Systems, after a rough start, have found kindred spirits in the KMC. As such, they do not have much time for the Dominion, or any empires that either do not border theirs or plan on invading. The fact that they often make good money selling their services to the KMC to fight the Dominion does not help matters.

 **Batarian Hegemony:** Seeing as a merge or at the very least an alliance agreement between the Hegemony and KMC is only a matter of time given their developing political situation and growing mutual economic dependency, it is not surprising that the Hegemony looks on the Dominion with either disdain or outright hatred. The fact that the Dominion has a Council seat while they were left with nothing following Thessia likely did not help matters.

As it stands, the Hegemony are allies of the KMC, who are enemies of the Dominion. The Hegemony left the Council, while the Dominion holds a seat. The Hegemony has access to reasonable stores of eezo, which they cannot and will not share with governments other than the KMC. If the hatred is not mutual at this point, it will be when Hegemony ships begin shoring up the KMC's borders and participating in the frequent skirmishes.

 **Protoss:** Impossible to judge due to their reclusiveness, but their only known non-protoss friend is Captain James Raynor, who has made it his life's goal to dismantle Mengsk's regime. Their clashes over Braxis and their protectiveness of the xel'naga temples indicates that they are, at the very least, quite willing to kill Dominion citizens if they feel sufficiently motivated or insulted.

 **Krogan:** I'm sorry, they need a government to count.

 **Quarian Refugees:** This one is interesting. The quarians fled into the Koprulu Sector following the protoss intervention at Rannoch, but did not enter Dominion space. I am left with the strong suspicion that their mangled fleet was instructed to head for protoss worlds for asylum, but there is little evidence. At any rate, quarians still occasionally show up in Dominion space, though they are tight lipped about their Migrant Fleet's current location. The Dominion do not treat them well, usually taking advantage of their Pilgrimages to do menial labor in SCVs in exchange for insultingly low pay.

On at least one occasion, a quarian was captured by Dominion ghosts and probed extensively. What they learned was likely of consequence, as I cannot access it. Gaining access to Dominion military databanks should be a high priority once the Armada has arrived - this level of security is likely indicative of knowledge of the protoss.

Their presence in Dominion space has been low of late, likely as a consequence of bad treatment and that recent capture. They have, however, begun cropping up in ITSA space, where they are better received. I suspect a possible protoss connection, but there is not enough evidence at this time to make a real judgment. Again, I recommend accessing those databanks as soon as possible upon arrival.

 **Geth Consensus:** They never fought directly together in the Great War, and the Dominion has nothing to offer the machines. There have been no known political interactions – the cosmic distance coupled with natural machine weariness of organic life has not lent itself to a fertile political landscape. That being said, the Dominion has a much higher tolerance than the Council (even if the Council has legalized far more forms of study in the advent of the Great War) and friendly relations are not out of the question… assuming the Dominion can find some common ground.

 **Threat Level: Yellow**

Militarily, the Dominion represents the best the colonials have to offer. Politically, the Dominion is lacking. When the most likely reaction of your neighbors upon hearing of the UED assault is either applause or indifference, you know you have failed at diplomacy. Arcturus Mengsk burnt far, far too many bridges in his path to ascension.

That being said, we do need to be aware of the potential for severe casualties in engaging their forces. The UED, for all its might, is relatively unpracticed at space warfare, and once the element of surprise is lost we are bound for a nasty slog. The war will not be over until Korhal is taken, and Korhal is second only to Palaven in terms of local defenses.

Orbital superiority must be kept at all times when engaging Dominion forces, and ground forces led by General Edmund Duke are to be approached with the strictest caution – the man has a reputation of an idiot, but one look at his service record and you will see discrepancies such as being the only known human military leader to have survived multiple engagements with the protoss.

UED forces must capitalize on the element of surprise for as long as possible. Every colonial soldier we are forced to kill is one less conscript to bring to bear against the alien menace later. Furthermore, the longer we take, the more likely the Hierarchy will initiate some kind of intervention, and while I believe as fervently as any in human superiority, we mathematically have nowhere near the numbers or ships necessary to emerge victorious against the turians at this time.

The most dangerous aspect of the Terran Dominion is Mengsk himself. Put bluntly, the man is opportunistic, brilliant, ruthless, charismatic, and completely unpredictable. He will likely whip his people into a frenzy to defend their worlds from us, and the further he is pushed, the more likely he is to become desperate – and that is by far when is at his most vicious. Upon capture, I recommend summary execution followed by swift purging of the familial line – that would be only his son, at this time. Wipe the Mengsk name from the face of human history.

While we are bound to be victorious in any head on fight against the Dominion thanks to our superior technology, and while the Dominion will likely have no allies to call on during the duration of the conflict, it would still be foolish to assume Mengsk will keel over and die simply because we will it so. Acquiring allies of our own (temporary or otherwise) and revealing the truth of Tarsonis backed by sufficient evidence would be wise moves indeed to counter the false emperor's treachery.

 **Major Sokholof,**

 **While I do not necessarily approve of the tone used in the document, I find your efforts sufficiently thorough as a good outline of the galaxy at large, and your enthusiasm is admirable.**

 **I see you too are a fan of my oh so famous words. How… imaginative. Well, my adoring fan, allow me to present to you a new quote to fixate upon:**

 **Without hyperbole, if you so much as inadvertently reference that blasted meme again in my presence, I will have you shot.**

 **Not as amusing, to be true… but I find I have a stronger emotional connection to it. I am sure you will agree.**

 **-Admiral Alexei Stukov, Director of the UED Special Projects Division**

* * *

 **A/N: More to follow, obviously. Each faction gets their own entry. I hope this was tolerable in quality.**

 **Thanks to NewAgeofPower, who is acting as beta for this and helping divert me from some of my stupider ideas.**

 **Thanks to LogicalPremise for providing a very good template with his Cerberus files. I would recommend those who have not at least had a look at those files to do so - it's both frightening and fascinating.**


	3. Kel-Morian Combine Threat Analysis

Admiral Stukov,

I was saddened to learn of Sokholof's accident, and will happily pick up where he left off. The Kel-Morian Combine seems the most offensive and threatening of the remaining colonial governments, so I will document them first.

Give my regards to Admiral DuGalle. Sincerely,

-Captain Rebecca Yang

 **Kel-Morian Combine: Political and Threat Analysis**

 **History and Politics**

The second largest of the colonial or "terran" governments is the Kel-Morian Combine. The Kel-Morian Combine (usually referred to as the KMC, or more colloquially by Dominion and Umojan citizens as "the KMs") was formed by the Kelanis Shipping Guild and Morian Mining Coalition in the wake of Confederate aggression in the space around Moria. The government can best be defined as a neoliberal oligarchy headed by several major Morian families, all of whom hold shares in the most prominent super corporations that comprise and dominate KMC politics.

The Combine was most famous for their action in the now legendary Guild Wars. Indeed, a great deal of their current socioeconomic situation stems from their defeat by the Confederacy in those conflicts. Nowadays, the KMC is more famous for their development of the Waygate system alongside the Batarian Hegemony, as well as their increasingly amoral business and political practices that run in contravention of about 90% of the common ethical systems found in known spacefaring sapient governments, including the United Earth Directorate.

Currently, the KMC is engaging in what is mostly a cold war against the Terran Dominion. The Dominion (a reactionary society dominated by the supposedly benevolent dictator and Emperor of Mankind, Arcturus Mengsk) is seen by the KMC as the inheritors of the Confederate legacy; they see the Dominion as stagnant, corrupt, and shortsighted. The Dominion sees the KMC as immoral, greedy, and ultimately reckless. These are the political and cultural justifications cited by an impartial observer, however. The Dominion and KMC are far more likely to express a belief that their squabbles stem from the many recent past atrocities committed by both sides against one another, as well as a desire for the same valuable territories that happen to be closer to Moria than Korhal.

It is worth noting that no member of any culture can objectively see how their own societal biases and the influences of the people around them shape them into the person they are. That being said, the average citizen of the KMC has a vastly different interpretation from the rest of the galaxy in terms of how their society works, as well as how well it works. While Dominion citizens are known to shrug and acknowledge the inherent failures of their system, the officially high status of the Dominion in the Council and their faith in their emperor is enough to offset any long-term doubts they have over the Dominion's state of affairs. The Umojans and citizens of the ITSA, on the other hand, are for the most part quite pleased with their own governments, and are prone to bouts of patriotic self-righteousness when interacting with colonials from other governments. The KMC is effectively owned by a handful of exceptionally rich individuals whose personal freedoms are only restricted by their rivals, leading to a society that possesses incredibly lopsided wealth, yet the average KMC citizen is satisfied by the state of affairs, and indeed, nationalism within the KMC is quite high. The bulk of the population is willing to make daily sacrifices in their well-being for their government that would seem outlandishly costly to all humans outside of the United Earth Directorate. The cause of this unusual dedication can be attributed to several factors:

The Guild Wars. The KMC was forced to suffer severe economic sanctions by the victorious Confederacy, as well as being expected to pay outrageous sums in reparations. The resulting economic downturn resulted in many formerly thriving business conglomerates going out of business, and the resulting unemployment drove many families to sell themselves into slavery simply so they could have a ready source of food. While the Confederacy has been destroyed, several prominent members of the Dominion (such as General Edmund Duke and Arcturus Mengsk himself) fought in the Guild Wars against the KMC, reinforcing the belief that the Dominion is little more than a new Confederacy with only one Old Family.

Culture. The KMC believes that the wealth of its citizens comes down to, not luck or the family you were born into, but rather the willingness of the man or woman in question to work hard, take risks, and make intelligent decisions. The average KM scoffs at the other colonial populations, who they see as leashed to their governments due to their dependency on government provided public services such as the military and travel infrastructure. While it is fully possible for a highly motivated and talented individual to rise from the depths of servitude and become a major figure in the Combine (Zaeed Massani is a notable and recent example,) it is far less likely than the dominant KM culture would have its citizens believe, and threats to the economic might of the ruling oligarchy are far more likely to be met with assassins than polite applause at the ingenuity on display.

Isolation. The KMs have always stood apart both politically and geographically from the other colonials, and this has only increased in recent years as the other nations entered the Citadel government while they turned to the Terminus Systems. The result of this isolation is a colonial culture very different from its cousins, and they are quite proud of these differences, and will try to remain independent at all costs.

The result of this patriotism, when coupled with the prominent KM traits of prizing individualism and certain objectivist traits, is a bizarre specimen of humanity that, while she does not feel beholden to her government, will nevertheless defend it to the death in the face of it being insulted or in any way questioned. The frequent and recent skirmishes with the Dominion and enormous civilian casualties with no sign of intervention from the Citadel in sight has only reinforced the KM's citizenry belief in their inherent moral and military superiority; they have held their ground in the face of an expansionist and oppressive regime without the aid of supposedly benevolent alien governments. The KM's own questionable practices of slavery and privateering, as well as the presence of numerous alien mercenaries and disguised SIU operatives on the border, do not usually receive a mention.

There are four major families within the KMC that comprise the bulk of the government's power. Each family is based on and native to Moria, and three of them formerly had high ranking executives in the Kelanis Shipping Guild and Morian Mining Coalition. As of now, the families are united in what they see as a desperate stand against oppressive and corrupt foreign powers, both alien and human, that will stop at nothing to tear down the successes they worked so hard to achieve. It seems even the creators of the KMC propaganda have bought into their vision – though given the hostile state of affairs in their region of space, this may simply be a product of the desperate conundrums the KMC has lately been plagued with; disunity in the face of the Dominion's recent aggression could very well spell the end for the families.

The **Kelham** family is widely agreed to be the oldest of old money in the KMC, which gives them very high status indeed. Elias Kelham is the current patriarch of the family, and it was he who urged the other families to maintain independence in the wake of contact with the Citadel Council. As the oldest and wealthiest of the families, their business interests (and thus, thanks to KM culture, their very character) covers a wide range. The Kelhams have mining interests, vespene interests, and own the Morian First Fleet. Elias's three children, as per Kelham tradition, are all currently serving with the KM military, alongside their numerous cousins.

The **Hock** family is second highest in prestige, and they have largely specialized in defense contracts. While they have recently experienced competition from the Santiagos and their wildly successful Blue Suns, the Hocks still own Morian Second and Third Fleets, as well as no less than seven other mercenary groups besides. Donovan Hock, the current head of the family, lead a ripper fleet into the Terminus Systems and, while he came back with fewer goods than Zaeed Massani, took far fewer casualties, establishing himself as a cautious yet capable military leader. The Hocks have suffered numerous losses to their family tree of late, as their fleets and mercenaries are forced to continually tangle with the Terran Dominion. As a result, they are at risk of being overtaken by the Archers in terms of overall political importance.

The **Archer** family is not widely recognized by the galaxy at large, though their name is well-known to the KMC's numerous enemy intelligence agencies. They were the sole family of the main four not to have holdings in the two major founding corporations, instead "merely" owning a sizable tract of land rich in minerals and vespene gas and several research firms. They were the family responsible for the dismantling of their supercarrier, _Argo._ As a result, they have both a keen understanding of and interest in artificial intelligences and cybernetics; head family member Gavin Archer is still known to frequently bemoan the "deactivation" of ATLAS and the Confederate refusal to sell the remains to his family. In recent years, they were responsible for eezo research and development of the Waygate system. They are seen as indispensable weirdos by the rest of the families – an image that is not helped by Gavin Archer's heavily autistic yet genius brother, David, whom the families enjoy mocking behind closed doors.

The **Santiago** family is new money – brash, loud, and wealthy. They rose to prominence through Vido Santiago and Zaeed Massani's brainchild mercenary group, the Blue Suns, who found themselves hired by both the KMC and the Terran Dominion towards the end of the Great War. The Santiagos were already relatively well-established, owning the Santiago and Sons Vespene Extraction Services, but they were nonetheless still nothing to the other three families – that is, until their employee Zaeed Massani returned from the Terminus Systems laden with eezo and slaves, as well as a notification from the Batarian Hegemony that they should meet with them and introduce themselves. Now, the Santiagos enjoy newfound relevance as they leverage their new eezo supplies, mercenary empire, and their ties with the Hegemony to make their voice heard.

 **Military Doctrine**

Officially, the KMC military is very small, consisting of only 23 battlecruisers running a skeleton crew. The vast majority of the officers are recruited from the four ruling families, typically family members considered expendable, with the exception of the Kelhams. The Morian fleets, even named as such, are technically not a part of the government's military, but privately owned by their respective families; they are usually crewed by mercenaries and captained by family members who are both disposable and capable (and is thus the common fate of many cousins, uncles, and aunts.)

Unofficially, the KMC military is enormous, just highly privatized. If their military were to be counted as the mercenary groups either owned or consistently hired by the four families, then their military would in fact, not only be larger than the Dominion's, but also be the most racially diverse and egalitarian military force in the known galaxy. As an example, following the nuclear bombardment of Kalem-VI, Dominion forces that landed on the planet were confronted by an allied mercenary force that was comprised of humans, batarians, krogan, infested vorcha, salarians, asari, turians, and even elcor. The KM place value on money and the ability to get results – they do not discriminate against aliens nearly so much as they discriminate against the poor. Kalem-VI was an example of this.

This wide variety in their forces makes it very difficult to predict what tactics the KM military will employ in any given conflict. Eclipse mercenaries, for example, favor hit and run style space engagements, while their ground forces put a high emphasis on biotic and cyber warfare. However, this becomes hard to prepare for once you factor in the potential presence of the Blood Pack, who favor close combat and whose vorcha shock troops demand flamethrowers to reliably put down. All this becomes moot if the Blue Suns show up, as they favor overwhelming enemy ships with fighters while their ground forces establish anti-orbital weaponry, and if the SIU show up then that demands an answer… and so on.

However, this emphasis on privatized warfare is also a weakness. The majority of the population, while dedicated to their government, cannot be conscripted in times of need. To do so would run counter to every principle the KMs uphold, and there is no safe way to spin the announcement of a draft. Neural resocialization has been considered as an alternative, but also continually rejected for similar reasons: the citizenry would learn of it, and the cognitive dissonance they would experience would not be easy to deal with.

As a result, where other nations have dedicated soldiers who will not retreat in the face of insurmountable odds if their officer gives the order, the KMs have an incredibly undisciplined army that will not make the ultimate sacrifice for the purpose of a paycheck, with the SIU and occasionally the Blue Suns being the only exceptions. The Dominion's strategy of overwhelming force and nuclear barrages to break the enemy's will has proven extremely effective against the KMC, to the point that the Combine has lately done the unthinkable and begun a volunteer recruitment drive among slaves, offering them their freedom in exchange for training under batarian and turian instructors and serving as soldiers in the KM army.

That being said, the variety of their forces has still been the source of numerous nasty surprises for the Dominion, and left them quite unwilling to push for Moria and its Waygates. Sokholof's phantom former Confederate agency (which is better visible through its obvious absence rather than what it is actually accomplishing, if anything) likely also plays a role in Dominion reluctance to invade, though its capabilities, leadership, and even name are still a mystery to us.

 **Political Relations**

 **Terran Dominion:** Hostile, and very obviously so. The two sides hate each other with a fiery passion and frequently make that evident through displays of force. Reconciliation is virtually impossible; there is too much history and all of it is both bad and recent. The KMC's recent economic gains and steady militarization promise to make it the dominant power over the Dominion by 2508, something the Dominion itself predicted. An invasion is planned, and could very well occur either before or during the Expeditionary Armada's traversal of the stars.

 **Umojan Protectorate:** The two governments hold each other in mutual disdain, though they respect each other's commitment to the personal freedoms of its citizens, even if the reasons for supporting those freedoms are different. The Dominion sits between the two, precluding much contact for obvious reasons.

The KMC's attempts to further establish themselves in the Terminus Systems has led to further rifts between the two peoples in recent times, as the corresponding increase of (sometimes KM sanctioned) piracy has threatened the wellbeing of ITSA citizens, whom the Umojans are quite protective of. That being said, it is clear that the Protectorate still favors a KM victory over the Dominion.

 **Independent Terran Systems Alliance:** The KMC does not have much time for the ITSA, seeing them as both naïve and far too dependent on the Citadel for their own good. The ITSA, in turn, loathe the KMC for driving up the demand for slaves, which has caused multiple instances of piracy within their borders. As a result, the ITSA is the only non-Dominion Council government to have struck against the KMC, as they had major holdings on Torfan. In fact, in recent years the ITSA has proven itself to hate the KMs more than the Dominion; the Dominion, at the very least, respects the ITSA's independence. The respect comes from the threat of Council reprisal, to be certain, but they have not sent any slave-takers their way, unlike the KMC.

 **Turian Hierarchy:** The Turian Hierarchy rarely if ever sees a KM ship within their reach, but the influence of the KMs and their criminal allies is long; the Hierarchy has rapidly come to despise the Combine. In them, they see the worst aspects of the salarians, quarians, and batarians combined, with a dash of the krogan's selfishness as well. That being said, unlike several other factions, they still hate the Dominion more. As a result, while they make sure the Combine's piracy stays well outside Council borders to the best of their ability, they do not interfere with Terminus interests as often as they used to, and refuse to establish a proper blockade over Relay 118. The tensions with the salarians likely play a role in this as well.

 **Salarian Union:** The salarians are having trouble with the KMC. On the one hand, the KMC lacks a Ghost Academy and their government easily bugged, on the other hand, the KMC's economy has steadily grown over the years and many of those bugs have since removed. The KMC contains the Dominion's expansionism, which is good. They inflict heavy Dominion casualties and create dangerous relay technology, which is bad.

The KMC, for their part, respect the salarians. They keep their fleets to themselves, value several of the same concepts they do, and their mercenaries have proven highly useful. Of the Council races, the KMC likes the salarians the most, which is still not saying much.

 **Asari Republics:** There has been little contact between the two, though the KMC is fond of asari mercenaries. High Matriarch Aethyta is known to have ties to the Eclipse Sisterhood, and it is rumored that the KMC enjoys a discount for their services, courtesy of her. Tarsonis still looms large in the minds of the Citadel races' leadership, and it is likely that should the Dominion fall, that discount could very well vanish. Even with a recent right wing leadership, the asari's core values of fair democracy and representation run at odds with the KMC's acceptance of slavery.

 **Volus Ultranationalists:** Despite both placing an emphasis on wealth and remaining free of Council machinations, the KMC is widely hated by the volus, who believe the KMC to uphold the worst aspects of free trade. In fact, one of the Ultranationalist's complaints against the Hierarchy is the lack of action taken against the KMC, who are steadily threatening the volus's (and thus, the Hierarchy's) status as an economic superpower while steadily violating the rights of sapients by enslaving them. The KMC, on the other hand, pays the volus little mind. However, KMC interests in the Terminus Systems occasionally suffer setbacks – setbacks such as bombs detonating as rival, explicitly known non-KMC affiliate mercenary companies arrive out of nowhere and inflict grievous casualties. The volus deny all responsibility, typically while offering a wheezy chuckle.

 **Batarian Hegemony:** The Hegemony is a reactionary dictatorship that in some respects would make the Dominion look liberal, yet they are staunch allies of the KMC. Many within the UED would dismiss this as a simple cultural acceptance, and indeed reliance on slavery, but the connection goes beyond that. Both entities desire freedom from the Council; economic freedom, cultural freedom, and personal freedom for their leadership. The two are geographically distant – there would be no border concerns. And neither look down on the other – the KMC feel the Hegemony should be allowed to conduct business as they wish, and the Hegemony welcomes the only terrans who are willing to stay outside the Council.

The Terminus connection and Waygate system has only brought the two closer together. The exchange in very different technologies and slaves has proven enormously profitable for both parties. Their citizens travel freely between the two nations, and talks of a long-term official alliance have recently begun. If and when the UED deals with the KMC, it is likely the batarians will be the first alien race to publicly declare war on us.

 **Terminus Systems:** Aria T'loak has a special place in her cold heart for the KMs, whose enthusiasm and entrepreneurism she finds refreshing. While she may count Aethyta as an old acquaintance and respects her opinions, she still sees fit to do business with the KMs on a frequent basis. The Terminus Systems have opened a tremendous number of doors for the KMC, and the KMC in turn (once their ripper fleets were finished) have done much to bolster many criminal empires, especially Aria's.

Unlike the Hegemony, the ragtag Terminus fleets have already made an appearance on the KMC border, and have even tasted Dominion blood. That being said, I am told we have special plans for these lawless systems, and that they will not be a concern in the long term. Dealing with the KMC, on the other hand, is still a pressing difficulty.

 **Krogan:** The KMC enjoys hiring krogan as mercenaries, and the krogan enjoy being mercenaries. That being said, I am forced to agree with the late Sokholof in saying that the lack of a notable krogan government prevents much from being said beyond that.

 **Hanar Ascendancy:** They keep to themselves, and there is considerable distance between the two governments.

 **Elcor Remnants:** The elcor are disgusted by the KMC, who barely notice.

 **Quarian Refugees:** It is safe to say that the quarians were well aware of the KMC predilection for making slaves of those unable to defend themselves, and kept pilgrims well away from KM space.

 **Geth Consensus:** We are not even certain the geth are aware of the KMC's existence.

 **Protoss:** No known contact between the two, aside from a few pirates being blown up. We find it unlikely that the protoss discriminate between nations – they probably feel much the same about the KMC as they do the Dominion.

 **Threat Level: Orange**

Believe it or not, I classify the Kel-Morian Combine as a larger threat than the Dominion – not for military reasons, but for political ones.

Unlike the Dominion, invading the KMC will elicit an alien reaction. The Terminus Systems will rouse whatever resistance they can, and the Hegemony will not allow their allies to be attacked in such a manner. The vast variety of their forces means that no specialized strategy can be formulated that will allow us to engage the KMC with utmost confidence – how can our forces be prepared, in every firefight, for the sudden emergence of burrowed vorcha?

The black ops agency also fills me with trepidation. Their existence is guaranteed, if still shadowy. Their capabilities and membership are unknown. They desire the fall of the Dominion, to be sure, but how they feel about aliens or the UED is up for question.

Finally, there is a good chance the KMC will know that we are bound for the Koprulu Sector. There is an even higher chance they will attempt to deter UED aggression with significant bribes and/or an alliance. They hate the Dominion with a passion our own forces will be hard pressed to match, and want to see Mengsk dead. Accepting these bribes will not only make the UED look weak, but also hypocritical – we come to reclaim and conquer, with temporary diplomacy only an option to those with a red threat level.

In short, I recommend extreme caution in dealing with the KMC. With the other colonial governments, it is cut and dry – pay no attention to their pleas and put their leadership to the sword. With the KMC, its vast connections and resources provide a sore temptation and risk. I will leave the ultimate decision to yourself and Gerard, although I must provide a stern recommendation to refuse any such bribes or offers of allegiance for fear of Kel-Morian trickery.

 **Captain Yang,**

 **Exemplary work. The KMC is still a relatively obscure topic, and I am pleased to note that I learned several new things while perusing this document. Please, accept my utmost thanks for your diligence, as well as permission to begin work on documenting the other two colonial governments.**

 **Both Admiral DuGalle and myself eagerly await further results.**

 **-Admiral Alexei Stukov, Director of the UED Special Projects Division**


	4. Umojan Protectorate Threat Analysis

**Umojan Protectorate: Political and Threat Analysis**

 **History and Politics**

The Umojan Protectorate is a collection of formerly independent terran systems now aligned under a representative democracy based on Umoja. Like the Kel-Morian Combine, the Protectorate can trace its existence to the Guild Wars's lasting legacy; the Confederacy's appropriation of numerous former KMC guilds as well as demanding reparation payment was seen as a gross overstep by Umoja and several neighboring Umojan founded colonies. They declared independence from the Confederacy in 2489, and have thus far maintained that independence.

Umojans are currently most notable for being the colonial faction with both the biggest similarities and differences from the United Earth Directorate. The similarities can be found in their military doctrine, which emphasizes orbital superiority, good intelligence, and preserving the lives of very well trained soldiers, and their environmentalism – Umoja still maintains pristine air quality and Umojan energy systems are both self-sustaining and eminently reliable.

The differences can be found in the Umojan's naiveté; their supercarrier, the _Reagan_ , carried the majority of political prisoners that Doran Routhe thought would be "most interesting" if shot into space. While the _Sarengo_ was intended to balance this out with its "cyber-lunatics and other violent madmen," the _Sarengo_ 's passengers were all killed in the crash landing. The Umojans, to their lasting surprise and Doran Routhe's disappointment, were essentially sent to what was by all accounts a paradise and told to build their version of a utopia there.

Where the UED values what the individual can do for its ruling government, the Protectorate asks instead what the ruling government can do for its people. Their representative democratic ruling body, the Umojan High Council, is mainly concerned with the happiness of its people and the destabilization of its enemies. While they maintain a tight rein over their military, the overall power of this government is low; any of its colonies could likely secede from the Protectorate at no cost of reprisal from the Umojans. They are fully aware, however, that this is not the case with the Dominion.

The Umojan Protectorate promotes freedom of religion. The United Earth Directorate has long ago snuffed out such nonsense – God is a human invention, long ago discarded in favor of glorification of the human spirit. The Umojan's values of democracy and many of the supposed freedoms that go with it is horribly misguided; the UED well remembers what total freedom and the tyranny of the majority did to Earth and its solar colonies, and the desperate yet measures taken by the UPL in order to save our species. The Protectorate's continued pursuit of these concepts is not only naïve, it is insulting.

To most aliens, the Umojans are a conundrum. They tend to be friendly, if not gregarious, and many admire the Citadel. Umojans are also – by far – the most educated among the colonial populations, and their schools are the only ones to include all known alien histories as part of their curriculum. The Umojans voraciously consume information – but as a result, the Council aliens frequently find themselves challenged by the Umojans on several issues (such as the Rachni and the Genophage.) This has led to the most defining and common perception of the Umojans: self-righteousness.

To judge how best the Umojans will react to any given government, it is best to look for three factors:

Any enormously controversial past action conducted by your own government, such as Tarsonis or the Genophage.

Whether your government subscribes to any known democratic or republic categories.

How your government treats its own citizens (e.g., withholding vital public information or engaging in routine brutality against them – the turian/volus relationship comes to mind.)

If the government that sapient subscribes to is in contravention of any of these factors, an argument will likely result. Umojan politicians are no different – the fact that they have had to cover up Tarsonis for so long has had very obvious degenerative psychological effects on several notable Umojan diplomats (the most prominent being Donnel Udina, whose hairline has greatly receded in the past few years.) The Umojans can and will call out any and all peoples they judge to have violated their own ethical systems, without regard to the other peoples. That being said, they are still eager to establish friendly ties with nearly all alien factions, and often react with surprise when their own tirades are met with hostility. In recent years they've been getting better, but their own plans to expose Tarsonis have led to their withdrawal from much of Council space. They know what's coming.

The Umojans are the sole colonial faction that can be said to get along with their peers, at least to the extent that no military action has been taken against them by any other colonial powers. Even the Confederacy, who were rightfully angry at their declaration of independence, never got around to formally invading their space and reclaiming the Umojan territories by force. They enjoy close ties to the Dominion thanks to the Pasteur-Mengsk connection, though of course they are now distancing themselves due to Tarsonis. They have never formally had any disputes with the KMC, though this would very likely be different if they shared a border; the KMC's practices disgust the Protectorate.

The Alliance and Protectorate, meanwhile, enjoy a cordial relationship. The Protectorate is only too happy to provide medical and agricultural technology to the Alliance, and the Alliance in turn has established ties between the Protectorate and elcor, as well as a vital eezo lifeline. The Protectorate admires the ITSA for being quite cavalier in regards to exposing Tarsonis, as well as the numerous liberties they grant their citizens. The ITSA, meanwhile, while suspicious of the Protectorate's ties to the Dominion, are grateful for the friendly contact and admire the Protectorate's policies. The distance between the two governments is great, but due to their friendly relations with the Council, their relationship has progressed without many hiccups so far.

 **Military Doctrine**

The Umojans are well-known for putting a much higher emphasis on technological development and intelligence gathering than the other colonial factions. This can be seen in their focus on educating their citizens, and even remaining mostly objective when it comes to matters such as history and government. This focus can be further seen in their military doctrine.

As previously mentioned, the Protectorate's methods of waging war are similar to the Directorate's. They prefer to extensively analyze a foe's capabilities and possibly sabotage them before engaging in open warfare. I do not exaggerate when I say that there is an Umojan spy for every soldier.

Their reasoning behind this emphasis on gathering intelligence is different than the UED's own, however. The Directorate is forced into such extensive covert observation by the vast stellar distance between ourselves and the colonies, as well as our own beliefs being non-conducive to peaceful cooperation between ourselves and the dominant alien governments. The Protectorate resorts to such measures out of desperation – they are the second smallest terran nation after the ITSA, and the Dominion could easily roll over them in their sleep, so to speak.

The Protectorate has spies everywhere they can plant them. The Dominion unearthes Umojan saboteurs constantly. The ITSA pays them no mind, but is aware of their presence. The KMC tries, but is unable to root them out. Even the aliens have begun to find evidence of Umojan interference – turians find their policing efforts over the Ultranationalists stymied, production of asari dreadnoughts mysteriously goes awry, and the Salarian Union is locked in a lasting struggle with Protectorate intelligence gathering. While it may seem strange that the Protectorate has put so much effort into keeping tabs even on their allies, there is a clear method to their supposed paranoia: the Protectorate is making a painful effort to keep the galaxy from erupting into war by keeping as many superpowers in check as possible, while also enforcing their own liberal ethics wherever possible. They are serving as both peacekeepers and agitators – and doing an admirable job at both.

The Protectorate is also notable for their Shadowguards – psionic operatives that are a ghost equivalent. Notably, Umojan citizens gifted with psionics are trained in the use of their powers and then essentially left to do with them as they please. Shadowguards are simply volunteers who have chosen to serve in a military capacity. While this has resulted in operatives comparatively higher on the scale than Dominion ghosts on the average (usually averaging at about 4, as opposed to the Dominion's 3 and the UED's 2) it has resulted in past tragedies when these Shadowguards lost control. The Protectorate seems content to take the risk – their Shadowguards have proven valuable as both infiltrators and soldiers.

As for their military proper, there is not much to speak of. The Umojan Protectorate only has thirteen worlds under its control, and three fleets to its name. However, they are quite aware of this military deficit, and have taken measures beyond bugging every extranet terminal they can send an agent to. Put bluntly, the Protectorate's emphasis on scientific advancement has created technologies that even the UED has little understanding of.

Their marines are terrifying; the eezo lifeline has been pumped directly into the military, allowing the creation of grossly oversized power armor and weapons. Military simulations between Dominion and Protectorate marines produce laughably one sided results: the Protectorate marines, clad in CMC-0 suits move twice as fast, can absorb several siege tank rounds, and use enormous Punisher chainguns that can, with the assistance of superior Umojan targeting systems, shoot down approaching aircraft.

Unfortunately for the Umojans, these marines are few in number, and their fleets are noticeably lacking. The outdated _Behemoth_ battlecruiser is still much in evidence, and even with Umojan improvements, cannot stand up to Dominion _Minotaurs._ The co-development of _Archangel_ dreadnoughts with the ITSA has greatly increased the Umojan's chances of resisting Dominion invasion, but so far only three have been produced. The Umojan's continued survival is mostly owed to the continuing KMC/Dominion conflict that has shifted both the Dominion's attention and military away from their own border. The Protectorate is well aware that this cannot last, and has put most of its hopes at retaining independence past the Dominion's likely victory on the Council. They lack the resources to properly shore up their own fleets.

Like the UED and most Council races, the Protectorate sees ground actions as foolhardy, and will not hesitate to leverage orbital support into a quick victory. That being said, they despise the use of nuclear weapons, and are the only terran faction to have never used them on a garden world, preferring instead to tow asteroids and other space debris into enemy forces instead.

 **Political Relations**

 **Terran Dominion:** Donnel Udina was the first Umojan to become aware of what had transpired on Tarsonis. From what we can tell, he judged it necessary to keep the truth from his government from quite some time – the Dominion/Umojan estrangement did not occur until late 2502. As of right now, the Protectorate loathes the Dominion, mainly for its emperor. Their close borders and tied Council seat prevent the Protectorate from taking much open action, but they know what happened on Tarsonis and are almost prepared to use that information. Relations are currently one step below veiled hostility. The aftermath of the KMC conflict should see it graduate.

 **Kel-Morian Combine:** The Protectorate has made good use of the Combine, but despise them. The KMs practice abhorrent politics and have made the galaxy at large a much less safe place through their behavior. The KMC, meanwhile, sees the Protectorate as naïve fools who will inevitably be absorbed either by the Dominion or Turian Hierarchy – on that at least, we are agreed. They hate each other, but share a common foe in the Dominion, and are separated geographically by that government besides.

 **Independent Terran Systems Alliance:** The two enjoy trade relations, and have several similarities in terms of values. The Protectorate are openly envious at the frequent friendly interactions between the ITSA and several alien governments, and are beyond amazed that they see things worth emulating in the young nation. The ITSA, meanwhile, are thankful for the Protectorate's agricultural and medical technology, and have modeled their own government to some extent on theirs. If there are arguments between the two, it usually regards the slightly more right wing and militaristic tendencies of the ITSA, of which the Protectorate disapproves.

 **Turian Hierarchy:** The Protectorate sees the turians as backwards in many areas, and monstrous in the rest. The fact that the Council, a democratic body, could have such an imperialist and militarist society as one of their members staggers them – with the Dominion, at least they were blackmailed! The Protectorate is swift to point out what they perceive as numerous failings in the turian government, and the turian government is equally swift to espouse, at length, the size of their own fleets. The Protectorate's insistence that the Genophage be cured has won them no favors with the Hierarchy, and only geographical distance prohibits the turians from making their displeasure more clear. Despite both loathing the Dominion, the Umojans cannot find it in themselves to like or trust the Hierarchy.

 **Salarian Union:** The Protectorate sees the Union as a mix of the best traits the KMC and Protectorate has to offer: personal freedom for the citizenry, a powerful central government that nevertheless rules with a light touch, and capitalistic practices that keep their economy from stagnating like the turian's. The salarians and Protectorate both place an emphasis on intelligence, and have a deep and abiding respect for each other as a result. The fact that the Protectorate was the first terran agency to legitimately infiltrate the salarian's own government was a feat not lost on the salarians. Where they see the Dominion only, as Sokholof put it, "useful idiots," they are willing to concede that the Protectorate might have a future as the salarian's allies.

 **Asari Republics:** The Protectorate has little love for the High Matriarch, but admires the Republic overall. They are the only terran people known to chastise others for referring to the Republics as the Remnants, and are also the only people other than the asari to refer to the Battle of Thessia as the Battle _for_ Thessia. The fact that the Umojans had boots on the ground alongside the Dominion has not been forgotten by either side – the Republics has widely fallen in love with the Protectorate.

In the Protectorate, the asari see the ideal of the terran species – they are educated, polite, and technologically advanced. Asari frequently travel into Umojan space and, sickeningly, many do not return, falling in love either with the planets, or the people living on them. The Dominion has a relatively small asari population – the Umojans have a comparatively much larger one, and there are already official laws in place regarding the citizen status of asari born of Umojan parents.

While the Republics still hoards its eezo and refuses to enter trade with the Protectorate, their citizens are still quite free to fight for the Umojans if they choose. While the number of asari volunteers is still small, by our estimates there will be a significant biotic division by 2510, assuming the Umojans have not been assimilated.

 **Batarian Hegemony:** Unlike the KMC, the Protectorate has had little interaction with the Hegemony, and the Hegemony is only just barely aware of the Umojans' existence. Nevertheless, the Umojans are well aware of the Hegemony's practice of slavery as well as their caste system, and is quite vocal about how "horrible" it is. This likely did not and will not win them any favors or goodwill.

 **Volus Ultranationalists:** The Umojans are, again, vocal about matters they do not necessarily have the firmest grasp on, and are very vocal in support of the Ultranationalist cause. The fact that it would cause widespread damage to the Hierarchy economy and likely leave the volus planets exposed to attacks from the Terminus Systems rarely seems to cross their minds – however, in their defense, the Hierarchy's current expansionist mindset is extremely alarming, and losing the volus would buy the Hierarchy's enemies precious time to mount an effective defense. The Ultranationalists, as far as we can tell, have never sent a delegation to Umoja, but are still quite thankful for the support.

 **Elcor Remnants:** Friendly contact has been established, and the two trade indirectly through the ITSA. The distance between the two is the only barrier to a more formal alliance and more regular contact.

 **Hanar Ascendancy:** Drell assassins and Shadowguards have crossed paths on a few occasions, and the exchanges have been surprisingly even. The Protectorate have stumbled upon their match – a government that primarily interacts with others through intelligence agents and is otherwise content to remain within its own (small) territory. That being said, the distance and the Protectorate's confusion at the hanar's religion has precluded much interaction and the hanar seem, in anything, only irritated at the Protectorate's intelligence gathering.

 **Krogan:** The Umojans dispatched a delegation to Tuchanka to study the Genophage, ignoring the protests and warnings of no less than six governments in the process. Surprisingly, the Umojans had some foresight and sent a heavy marine detachment with the scientists and politicians – this proved to be a very good idea indeed.

Having studied krogan culture beforehand, the Umojans were not alarmed at the first raid, and sent a stern reprisal in the form of a visit from their marines to the offending clan. After killing off the males and "donating" the females to the other nearest clan who had _not_ attacked, the Umojans secured the rarest of all krogan honors: the title of an enemy worth killing.

The Umojans still maintain their camp, known as "Bastion," and are making continual progress in working toward a theoretical Genophage cure. Having seen Tuchanka and skirmished with several clans, however, they are beginning to reconsider whether it would be the right thing to do.

 **Quarian Refugees:** Quarians have not yet made an appearance in Umojan space to our knowledge, but the Protectorate has made it clear that they would be welcome there. The quarians' opinion of this is unknown.

 **Geth Consensus:** The Umojans tried to establish an embassy within geth territory, but were firmly rebuffed. The geth also turned away Umojan politicians who wished to speak to the protoss, citing it as "none of the Protectorate-Umojans' concern." The Umojans are understandably frustrated with the geth, but are still trying to be patient. Machines, after all, are detached from the affairs of organics by their very nature.

 **Protoss:** The Umojans wish the protoss would talk to them. They admire their technology and, from what they've heard of the Khala, seek to emulate it. The protoss have paid the Umojans no mind whatsoever, however. I would regard Sokholof's report about the protoss having spoken to them with a great deal of suspicion.

 **Threat Level: Green**

Possessing neither the allies of the ITSA and KMC nor the raw numbers and fanaticism of the Dominion, the Protectorate does not know the UED is coming and is not prepared for it. Like the salarians, they prefer to have their wars at least partially won before they begin, if not curtailed completely. Now they will come up against a terran government that has no patience or respect for their spies and politics. While their infantry is impressive, they lack the ships to protect them from orbital bombardment, and their _Archangel_ dreadnoughts are still too small in number to make up the difference.

I only caution that we do not leave the Protectorate unattended to for too long. Every instance of a colonial government underestimating the Umojans has historically ended in major inconvenience for them.


	5. Turian Hierarchy Threat Analysis

Dr. Elizabeth Henwick,

Your recent paper on the logic of why the UED must venture into the stars impressed me, as did your insights into the psychology of the Hierarchy's drones. As a result, I am now extending an invitation to you: please review Sokholof's and Yang's documents and produce something similar for the turians. Also, for reference:

Threat Level Green: No major threat to the Expeditionary Armada.

Threat Level Yellow: Moderate threat to the Expeditionary Armada, either through political connections or military.

Threat Level Orange: Major threat to the Expeditionary Armada due to a combination of military might and political connections.

Threat Level Red: In a head on battle, there is no mathematical possibility for the Armada to face this foe and win. (Do not be ashamed of this; our own forays into the stars have been relatively recent – many of these aliens have a sizable head start.)

There is also a black threat level, but do not worry about it. Just use the four that are given here. I eagerly await your response.

-Admiral Alexei Stukov, Director of the UED Special Projects Division

 **Political and Threat Analysis: Turian Hierarchy**

Humanity's history has been marked by the passage of many empires in its long years. From the short-lived reign of Alexander the Great, to Genghis Khan's Mongol hordes, to Britain's globe spanning empire upon which the sun never set, humanity is no stranger to either the concept or execution of a vast nation that capitulates to a single throne. Indeed, even now the would-be Emperor of Humanity Arcturus Mengsk lays claim to his own empire, the Terran Dominion. It is a concept that waxes and wanes as humanity enters each new stage of cultural and technological development, but it never fades, truly.

For the turians, there was never anything else. They did not reach the stars as we did, eyes cast skyward as the Russians and Americans vied for entrance to the cosmos, separated by ideology and patriotic fervor. They did not reach Palaven's moon as anything less than an already united people; all answered to the Hierarch, all of their heads bowed to the same banner. That is both the greatest strength and the greatest weakness of the Hierarchy – homogeny and a dearth of understanding outside their chosen interest of conquest, but it would be a mistake to view them as anything less than the single greatest threat the UED must contend with.

First, let me dispel the common impression that many users of our cybernet seem to have about the turians: they are not all the same (although, again, homogeny is still their greatest weakness) and there are indeed turians outside the Hierarchy. There are even turian colonies outside the Hierarchy, however they are few in number and by necessity very distant from turian territory. As can be seen from recent turian-volus relations and particularly the formation of the Ultranationalist movement, secession is taken very seriously by the Hierarchy, and they would much rather hold dominion over a bombed out and depopulated colony than relinquish control over it.

Second, allow me to help assuage the confusion I have witnessed all too frequently regarding the Hierarchy's recent aggressive expansionism. There was no change in the Hierarchy's leadership; Primarch Fedorian has retained his position for the last twenty years. Nor was there some, and I quote, "subtle protoss psionic manipulation over the entire species" to induce the turians to begin pressing the borders of their longtime allies. What we are witnessing is quite simple, once the Hierarchy mindset is understood.

First, consider that the average turian lives a very productive and healthy life. Most of them are physically able due to the rigors of training, and the government's strict meritocracy is very generous in regards to standards of living once the fifteen year mandatory military service is over. Their society is efficient, structured, and above all, quite fair. It rewards ambition and capability, while also punishing incompetence and laziness. In the Hierarchy, people get what they deserve. Then, the average turian citizen listens to Hierarchy news channels. He reads about and witnesses the numerous inherent inequalities present in the extremely neoliberal Salarian Union and Kel-Morian Combine, as well as the weaknesses of more moderate societies such as the Umojan Protectorate and Asari Republics. They come to the conclusion that many citizens of these nations are either unhappy and destitute or poorly defended. Then they look to their own nation and make the comparisons.

Furthermore, bear in mind that a militaristic culture that is not fighting is doomed to turn upon itself. The turians have had to survive numerous secession crises in the past; the opening of the Koprulu Sector has, if anything, been quite a boon to the Hierarchy. No longer will they be forced to turn to making enemies of pirates to give their people something to hate. Now, the entire galaxy is for the taking.

To be sure the turian media is biased and jingoistic, but it is still not difficult to see the grain of truth nestled in the chest pounding. The Hierarchy held several volus worlds against the onslaught of the Zerg Swarm, and their fleets played key roles in Tarsonis and Thessia. Where other aliens were unable to mount a proper defense, the turians held. Where other races abandoned their infested planets during the cleanup, the turians, slowly but surely, reclaimed all lost ground. The turians are good at one thing: war. It is fortunate for them that the opening of the Koprulu Sector has brought a great deal of it to the galaxy at large.

The turians look to the galaxy and conclude, not without substantial evidence, that it would be better off with the Hierarchy in charge. People would know their place, they would live well, and if they are indeed taking these "Reaper" claims seriously, then the Reapers will not be pleased to greet a heavily armed galaxy. It would be a peaceful society, an ordered society, a powerful society.

It would also be intolerably stagnant.

The turians have little understanding of the galactic economy – it stems from a very cooperative and rigid mindset that believes that everyone who works hard should have a full belly, a concept that no doubt the salarians and Kel-Morians scoff at. Their acceptance of the volus into their ranks was a calculated move – they were aware of their own weakness and sought to offset it with an economically minded addition to their empire. That being said, it again shows off the turian's military approach to all matters; they entrusted the management of their empire's economy to another race and considered the matter settled. The weakness is shored up, the crisis was averted. The turians moved on. Needless to say, the Ultranationalist movement has caused many turians to reevaluate that particular decision.

The turians have trouble innovating. That is not to say (again, contrary to popular cybernet claims) that they are incapable of creativity or worse, stupid, but rather that they have a very difficult time accepting new methodologies and technologies into their existing societies unless they confer a very obvious and undeniable advantage. The turians are far less cavalier than humans or salarians when it comes to the scientific process; they would view the destruction of several ships in the KMC-Hegemony Waygate project to be appalling wastes of resources. If they had been running the project, it would have been cancelled relatively early on. However, they were very quick to implement warp drives wherever possible, and CMC derivative heavy infantry have now become a mainstay in the turian military. The turians are not stupid. If it is safe, reliable, and useful, the turians will implement it.

The turians are uncompromising. This is largely why the Ultranationalist movement has made little to no headway with turian politicians. The turians hold a firm and justifiable belief in the might of their fleets and the efficacy of their fair society. To disagree with them is to be instinctively labelled as one of three things: in denial, insane, or simply ignorant. As a result, they frequently adopt a haughty or even outright hostile demeanor in the political landscape in the face of those they deem their "lesser," which, following the Great War, is now literally everyone barring the protoss. The salarian-asari power bloc that had for so long kept the turians in check is now broken. The galaxy bleeds, and the turians see themselves as the coming saviors, whether the other nations will it or not.

 **Military Doctrine**

Having just expounded at length about the inherent weaknesses of the Turian Hierarchy's society, it is now with some trepidation that I arrive at what every turian lives and dies for.

At risk of sounding melodramatic: war. Every turian, even those outside the Hierarchy, has military training. Every turian serves. Not every turian will lead, specialize, or become a politician, but every turian will fight. It is enough to make Heinlein drool with envy; here we have a people to whom every one of them would have been a citizen in his ideal society.

There is a popular extranet quote by High Matriarch Aethyta, one that I think sums up just what the UED will have to overcome rather simply. "Only turians and terrans fortify every city they build." Turian cities are built in efficient grids with enough room and supporting infrastructure for large and heavy vehicles to move through. Most cities feature a wall. All bristle with anti-orbital weaponry that every other race would deem excessive. This is what the Hierarchy spends its money on. They usually expand slowly, but once the turians have planted their roots, there is little that can dig them out. In the event of invasion, every citizen owns a firearm, and more than a few higher ranking individuals have been permitted small caches of explosives. The UED cannot expect to take any turian settlement without serious casualties, and orbital bombardment will likewise be incredibly costly. That's the civilian element.

For the military, I am left quite frankly (for lack of a better term) gobsmacked at what I see. There are currently fifteen turian fleets with a reported forty-six dreadnoughts between them. Third Fleet has been replaced (although the name "Third Fleet" has been retired in honor of the sacrifices made by Adrien Victus and his men in the Great War) and another two fleets have been built besides. The Hierarchy has bent its entire population and Element Zero supply towards the swiftly approaching conflict. Each fleet consists of 3-5 dreadnoughts, roughly 400 frigates, 350 cruisers, and 150 heavy cruisers. With each ship built, the Hierarchy imposes its might on another world to secure the Element Zero there. The military machine is ballooning.

The advances brought by the Koprulu Sector did not change the make of most turian ships, but it did change their means of gathering information and waging war. Turian recon frigates are now a common sight on the salarian border – the ships are lightly armed and relatively slow at sub-light speeds, but they are equipped with the best sensors the turians could threaten the volus into buying, and feature both a mass effect core and a fusion reactor. They typically jump close to a planetary body with their warp drives before using the mass effect core to perform a FTL jump away from the planetary body they are surveying. Once safe, they warp back to the fleet proper and hand off the intel. Thus far, the salarians have found no counter to these "pokes," and threats to take action over turian fleet movements have been met with derision. The UED can expect to encounter these ships once the Dominion invasion is underway.

In fleet engagments, the turians use an uncomplicated approach that usually works: throw as much force at the enemy as possible, as soon as possible. Obviously there are certain foes against which this is a losing proposition (the geth, salarians, and protoss come to mind) but this is why the turians take to carefully scouting their foe before bringing their fleet to bear. If overwhelming force does not work, the turians are known to take advantage of poor maneuverability (as seen at Tarsonis and Antiga Prime) by utilizing short jumps, or by protecting their dreadnoughts as they slowly whittle down the opposition (Antiga Prime, again.) Turians are actually quite capable at adapting on the battlefield, it is only when they encounter something totally unknown, such as the protoss, that they tend to flounder.

Where the Koprulu Sector did introduce major changes to the turian military was in their ground forces. It is worth noting that the turians are eminently practical when it comes to ground warfare; they frequently see no reason for it. Their fleet is massive; all they need do is hold the orbit and then slam the planet's surface with whatever ordinance they deem most appropriate. The first answer the Hierarchy will turn to when presented with a problem is their fleet. However, if they are forced into action on the ground (as they frequently were against the zerg,) the turians have adapted.

The turians do not use CMC armor. They have instead CMC based Hardened Mobile Exosuits (HMEs) that were designed, not only to accommodate the turian frame, but to perform a long-forgotten role in the turian military – that of heavy infantry.

Turian heavy infantry or "fat falcons," if you belong to the Dominion, typically deploy from orbit at high speeds. Their armor is much thicker than existing Dominion CMC suits, and the suit is lightened by a small core of element zero. This core also provides an impressive kinetic barrier that can and has survived sustained C16 fire from several sources at once.

Turian heavy infantry represents the mindset of the turians that, if one is to his or her mind to something, one had best put forth all effort possible. Turians are disdainful of ground warfare, but the Zerg Swarm necessitated a rethinking of that disdain. As such, turian heavy infantry are quite possibly the finest basic infantry in the known galaxy.

Every drop by turian heavy infantry so far has resulted in a rout. They typically deploy directly on top of existing resistance before bringing their Imperator rifles (a hybrid of their Phaeston rifle and stolen C14 schematics that notably features an additional two barrels) to bear.

Heavy infantry are a vanguard, and casualties are typically high among their ranks. By the time the smoke clears, however, the enemy is in disarray, and the turian rank and file will have arrived. I would call them a verloren hoop, were it not for the fact that they have typically inflicted a 25:1 kill-death ratio on the enemy. The heavy infantry do not fear and they do not miss.

When put on defense, turians rely on alreading existing fortifications, assuming they are on their own planet. If they are not, by the time they are done, it will be. Turians are fond of laying mines, blowing up bridges, and poisoning water sources to deny enemies all advantage. If it is not obvious by this point, the turians only believe in total war, and any engagement with them will be unpleasant at best.

There is much more to their military to be sure; the Armiger Legions with their jet-packed HMEs, the biotic Cabal units, the volus auxiliaries, but I would contend that it would be pointless to discuss them. The first and last answer the turians have is the fleet. Everything else is so much window dressing. If the UED cannot find some way to contend with the turian's fleet numbers, then worrying about their limited numbers of biotics or elite scouting units is pointless. We will never make it to the ground warfare element.

 **Political Relations**

I will leave out the factions already discussed. Their assessments were accurate.

 **Independent Terran Systems Alliance:** The turians spare little thought for the ITSA, doubtless seeing them as little more than Council puppets. Relations are basically nonexistent, but are at least not overtly hostile. The ITSA, for their part, respect the turians for what they have done, but do not like what they are currently doing. The ITSA barely escaped being part of Mengsk's empire, and are not keen on joining another.

 **Asari Republics:** The asari rightfully loathe the turians for voting them off the Council and then capitalizing on the political vacuum. The turians in turn, recognize the Remnants for the threat they are. The asari still wield considerable political clout, and have brought most of that clout to bear on the turians. They support the Ultranationalists. Their commandos supplement existing STG forces on raids into turian space. They have adapted their own martial practices, and now their citizenry is ready and able to repel land invasions far more effectively than before the Great War. Despite their fleet remaining crippled, the turians have not pushed into asari space yet with good reason. The resistance would be far heavier than the galactic stereotype of a "shattered people" would suggest.

 **Salarian Union:** Where once there was a tentative union and respect, now the salarians and turians outright hate each other. The salarians value individualism, experimentation, and calculated risk taking. The turians value honor, following the chain of command, and the implementation of practical technologies. The salarians offer heavy individual freedom to their citizens and reward the exploitation of economies and markets. The turians cherish their meritocracy.

They are diametrically opposed. Before, the asari could bridge the gap. Now, there is only the long-suffering Donnel Udina, who is ill-equipped to deal with either of the two superpowers. The turians desperately want to engage the salarians, but know that doing so would only open themselves to the Hegemony and Republics, as well as any number of terran factions, depending on what the borders looked like on that day. At the same time, they know that the salarians will attack first if they do not take action soon – the Union has never done anything so crass as "declare war." Their declaration of war is when all of your shipyards explode without warning and a salarian fleet materializes on the solar horizon.

Conversely, the salarians are terrified of the cost of the upcoming engagement. Several major families have outright threatened to secede over the prospect of sending most of their military assets at the Hierarchy, rightly recognizing that most of those soldiers would not be coming back. The STG is working overtime to keep the Hierarchy on the back foot until those families can be threatened into submission – and time is slowly turning against them. I would give them another two years at most. The end is coming, and neither will be the victor.

 **Hanar Ascendancy:** Drell assassins have also been seen working with STG teams. The turians are aware of this, but cannot act against the hanar without the salarians taking advantage. The hanar, for their part, of ceased trade with the Hierarchy, and have even threatened to leave the Citadel altogether if things do not improve. In the opening stages of the salarian-turian war, it seems likely that Kahje will be targeted. The hanar have little military strength, and the turians do not forgive a slight.

 **Elcor Remnants:** The elcor stand with the ITSA, and as such, have little love for the Hierarchy's recent aggression. The turians do not pay them much mind. Their infantry might be impressive, but the elcor have no ships to speak of.

 **Irune Ultranationalists:** Here we see the turian weakness. They cannot bomb the Ultranationalists into submission, lest they lose the volus altogether. At the same time, they cannot afford to let any of the volus worlds leave the Hierarchy. They are caught in a dilemma – they do not feel the volus deserve to be offered anything for their services, but cannot continue on without their help. Many a turian politician has been reduced to a blind rage at the antics of the volus, and it has done little to endear them to neither the Ultranationalists nor the galaxy at large. The volus, in turn, feel the turians are exploitative brutes that would rather see the galaxy burn than remain outside their control.

 **Batarian Hegemony:** Where once the batarians were held in contempt, now the turians are forced to consider them a threat. The lifeline to the KMC and their ensuing wealth has caught the turian's attention. The batarians, meanwhile, have nothing but scorn for the turians, who they see as backward. Technically, the turians could attack the batarians with the Council's blessing, as the Hegemony has left the Citadel. Unfortunately, that would be playing directly into the salarian's hands.

The batarians, for their part, make as much use of the cold war as possible, harassing both sides with deniable pirate actions and ferrying much of the wealth to their KMC allies. This had made them widely hated by both sides, but neither can do anything about it, much to the batarian's delight.

 **Protoss:** The one people the turians truly fear, the protoss have not made an appearance in turian space even once, but recent turian culture is steeped in reverence for this enigmatic people. Given that they are the only race that could possibly end the cold war by defeating both sides outright, this makes sense. The turians fear the day of the protoss's return, even if there is no evidence to suggest that day is coming.

 **Krogan:** They hate each other. The turians well remember the Krogan Rebellions, and the krogan still suffer from the turian-deployed Genophage. If there was a race the krogan liked to kill the most, the turians would be it. Not that they get a chance too often. If the turians ever worked up the effort to grow truly angry at the krogan, they need only bomb Tuchanka for a few days to really insure the krogan's oncoming extinction. The krogan are in denial over this.

 **Quarian Refugees:** The turians appear as racist as anyone else in regards to this wayward people, although they do harbor a deep and abiding respect for their continued survival and technical expertise. It is a moot point, however, as the quarians are based in the Koprulu Sector these days, where few turians dare tread.

 **Geth Consensus:** The only close by race with a fleet size comparable to the turians appears completely disinterested in them. The turians, in turn, have adopted a policy similar to our own: why bother conquering machines? Why waste countless lives trying to subjugate something that will not submit and does not feel fear? The turians leave the geth alone.

 **Threat Level: Red**

The turians are the single greatest mundane threat that the UED will have to overcome, and I do not doubt that we will overcome it. The turians are prepared for war, but not with us. They anticipate losses against the salarians, but not against us. They have made preparations for both Council and terran technology, but not UED technology. The UED must take advantage of the fragile political situation and rally the colonial populations to stand a chance against the turians.

I cannot emphasize this enough: fighting the turians head on is futile. They live and breathe war, and are currently preparing for the largest galactic conflict in history. That being said, their inherent contempt for the human race may lead them to underestimate us, and they will certainly be aware that they cannot afford another enemy.

The salarian-turian cold war must end in violence for the Expeditionary Armada to emerge victorious. The Council is too strong when together. Let them fall apart, and then take advantage of the aftermath. Let alien foolishness grant us the galaxy we deserve. Let alien arrogance prove their undoing. And let alien violence be the true cause of their downfall. When the history is written, let them look upon the annals and realize that their subjugation and assimilation was entirely their own fault.

We will make them human. One day, they will strive to earn the right of that title. As it should be.


	6. Zerg Swarm Threat Analysis

Vice Admiral,

I've seen your speeches and read your memoirs – you are a man of few words and harsh measures. I can respect that. I also know that you appreciate a similar bluntness of approach in all matters – military, political, personal, doesn't matter. So forgive me if I don't exactly cop to the same kind of sycophantic or pedantic bullshit of my peers; pretty much all information on the zerg that can be considered worthwhile is classified and thus inaccessible.

Since you told me to "come up with a fucking workaround," I have done just that by crawling every inch of the extranet I had available to me from remote access through a colonial adjutant. I have spent 400 man hours watching badly shot handheld footage, salarian horror films that look like they were made on a shoestring budget by fucking Ed Wood, and reading various secondhand reports and public databases on zerg organisms in order to try and construct a coherent narrative that, let me be clear, I was told from DAY ONE would likely be irrelevant.

Normally I would ask you to make good use of the intel I got, but honestly, just fuck off. This was hard work that I don't expect you to even look at, let alone value. Just take it and leave me to my migraines.

Love,

Captain Patrick Harris

 **The Zerg Swarm**

Ah yes, the alien species responsible for bending the galaxy over for just a few months, completely changing the political landscape as a consequence. I've seen other intelligence reports, Vice Admiral, and I know normally we would discuss the history, politics, or overall military doctrine here, but honestly, they're just a horde of space bugs. That might not have been true during the Great War, but in the present, all guiding intelligence behind these things is long gone.

So: historically, the Zerg Swarm seemed to have been governed by entities known as Cerebrates (big ass bug brains) who answered to the larger Overmind. These Cerebrates could point their respective zerg broods in the direction of the enemy and even orchestrate strategy and tactics to some degree: the published memoirs of the turian general, Desolas, make fighting the zerg back then seem like an actual war; a back and forth bout involving allocation of resources, troop deployment, usage of terrain, everything. From what the bird said, the governing Cerebrate seemed like it actually knew its business.

Anyway, that's all gone now. The zerg are all just ravening beasts that can mainly be found in former asari space and certain sections of the Traverse. I've heard reports of pockets holding out in the Koprulu Sector, but I know for a fact Char got cleared out and turned back into a lucrative mining colony. It's unlikely we will run into the fuckers.

Oh, there's also a significant number of the damn things on Tuchanka, thanks to the dangerous and nonsensical attempts of one Warlord Okeer to cure the Genophage using zerg tissue. Aside from the presence of infested vorcha basically anywhere in the Terminus Systems, that's about it for zerg territorial holdings. The geth, turians, protoss, and colonials burned them out of everywhere else.

 **Biology**

This section ended up brief; anything of value on this subject was being snapped up by the turians and salarians. Put simply, every zerg lives out Charles Darwin's "best species is the one most adaptive to change" spiel by evolving on both an individual and species wide basis to combat common threats. As a result, all zerg are to some degree resistant to blunt trauma, lacerations, blood loss, and etcetera.

Two notable exceptions to this appear to be concentrated dosages of radiation and fire. The radiation apparently screws with their hyperadaptive cells and makes them die off stupid quickly, while the fire slips through the gaps in their armor and cooks the soft bits underneath. Thanks to the Great War, incendiary and polonium rounds are still issued to Council ground troops far more often than any other ammo type, and the Dominion still fields Firebats. The bugs made quite an impression.

All zerg are also capable of vibrating their muscles to dig themselves into little holes. It makes the bastards surprisingly hard to detect, and zerg ambushes from underground were a common feature in the Great War. For the poor fools venturing into ex-asari space in search of eezo… it's still commonplace there, too.

Zerg in the Athena Nebula all possess biotic ability, which mainly manifests itself through "pull," "barrier," and "warp" techniques. The Athena Nebula has become widely avoided for this reason.

It's worth noting (even though it has "infested" popular culture even here on Earth) that the zerg are capable of infecting other creatures with the Zerg Hyper-Evolutionary Virus. This usually manifests in skin rashes, impotence, and huge ass claws bursting out of the poor fucker's back… provided that the fucker in question is a human, salarian, turian, or batarian. Other races produce different results.

 **Zerg "Pure" Strains**

 **Zergling:** Probably still the most common type of zerg, even with the vorcha spreading like heinously ugly wildfire over in the Terminus Systems. These four-legged dog-lizard bastards breed at prodigious rates and move faster than my tenants when I say the rent is due. When the Swarm was still cohesive, they typically performed scouting roles or attacked in vast hordes, serving as cannon fodder to distract enemy forces from the more dangerous strains. Nowadays, they just act like those stupid fucking pitbulls from next door, indiscriminately reproducing and attacking anything in sight.

 **Hydralisk:** The most photogenic zerg strain, if the salarian films were any indication. Think a cross between a crocodile, a praying mantis, and a snake, then give it the ability to spit gauss rounds with enough force to punch through battlecruiser armor. That's these guys in a nutshell. They're probably directly responsible for more military casualties in the Great War than any other land based strain, and that's saying something. They can take a beating, prefer to ambush from underground, and usually hunt in packs. They also weren't a terribly advanced strain, from the looks of things, as their numbers haven't really suffered after the Great War's end. If you're venturing into zerg territory, bring motion detectors. These fuckers don't give you second chances.

 **Drone:** Look like big ugly wasps. They're clumsy and fat, so they prefer not to fight. They're responsible for growing zerg colonies, but nowadays usually cluster in isolated areas and get preyed on by zerglings. They're responsible for the zerg infrastructure, but now the Overmind Union's fallen through and they're all out of jobs. Not much of a threat, and in danger of going extinct. Good riddance.

 **Overlord:** Threatening looking party balloons that float over the battlefield disgorging more threatening zerg strains. They're C+C organisms with transport capabilities, but have a hard time commanding or transporting the feral zerg these days. Apparently great herds of them have taken to wandering the stars, and occasionally crop up close to civilized planets. Usually they get destroyed, but I've heard sometimes people treat it like an event and take people up close to look at the things like they're fucking space whales or something. Guess it makes a certain kind of sense: they're harmless and they lost the war. I mean, I'd still shoot them, but whatever.

 **Mutalisk:** Despite what salarian film directors might think, it was these evil ship-fuckers that did most of the damage in the Great War. Bearing great leathery wings and capable of either spewing steel-melting acid or shooting homing parasite projectiles out its rectum (I WISH I WAS FUCKING JOKING) the humble zerg mutalisk is capable of both space and atmospheric flight through a combination of what I can only assume is psionic energy and bullshit, because wings don't fucking work in space.

These freaks travel in enormous swarms and were typically the answer to terran siege tanks, interceding Council fleets, and supply lines. While they didn't terrorize the relay system like the scourge, their existence was a fucking nightmare as ground forces were frequently overwhelmed through sheer numbers and softened already by previous ground attacks, while the Council's primary ship armaments could not reliably hit the damn things, leaving the GARDIANs to pick up the slack.

Fortunately, mutalisks are fragile, and their wings are easily damaged. Towards the end of the Great War, both colonial and Council forces were aiming to the left and right of center mass, making the bodies hit the floor. Didn't do much to deter the main bulk of the shrieking fucknuts, but it least evened up the casualty count. These days, mutalisks are a rarity, but nests of them can still be found on Thessia and Tuchanka. I would advise not disturbing these nests.

 **Scourge:** Suicide bombers. They were just flesh sacks loaded with vespene that got their jollies by ramming enemy ships and exploding with more force than my uncle's colon after eating too much corn. Not much to say, seeing as they're extinct. They used to nest on mass relays and fuck up anybody that came through, but those days are long gone. Without a driving intelligence to produce them, nature apparently got rid of them. No tears shed.

 **Queen:** Extinct strain these days, appeared to be some kind of flying specialist. Got reports of them spitting out parasites that killed siege tank crews and then crawled out to attack anything nearby. It's unclear what exactly they did, though the presence of queens was generally noted to be a tip off for an incoming massive zerg attack. So, probably reconnaissance. Nature wasn't having any of that either.

 **Guardian:** Part of the lovely two hit combo that knocked out many colonial settlements, guardians are an advanced strain that spat corrosive spores over great distances at ground targets. They couldn't do jack to defend themselves in the air, but they were usually surrounded by mutalisks and hydralisks, making this much less of a problem. They still exist today – barely – in small numbers around the aforementioned mutalisk nests. I strongly advise not disturbing these nests.

 **Defiler:** The other part of the two hit combo, though this one is thankfully extinct. Looking like one of those bastard silverfish that scared the shit out of me as a kid, defilers were mainly responsible for screwing with Council and colonial targeting systems by coughing up these massive clouds of spores, letting the other ground zerg close the distance by using the cloud as cover. Guardians would typically eliminate long range defenses first, and then the defilers would deploy their cloud and let the rabble run on through. Thankfully, the fucking things were rare and thus, probably hard to make (grow, whatever.) Hence, their extinction.

 **Ultralisk:** The advanced strain we all wish had gone extinct, and still hasn't. Standing about twenty feet tall at the shoulder and bearing a pair of monomolecular scythes on its wrists, the ultralisk is heavily armored, fast, and terminally angry. These things shrug off siege tank rounds, gauss rounds, and laser weaponry with impunity, although they were noted to have some trouble with biotics. Naturally, we don't have any biotics. Fortunately, these things are rare, only cropping up on worlds with major infestation (so, most of the Athena Nebula and parts of the Traverse) and their rampages are usually easy to avoid.

Apparently there was also some sort of super strain at the Battle of Thessia that was continually resurrected by Cerebrates after being mangled by the protoss. They called it a "torrasque," but if it existed it should be long dead by now.

 **Leviathan:** Massive zerg flying organisms that have not been seen in years. They were responsible for carrying entire brood into battle, and engaged capital ships on a regular basis. They were basically zerg dreadnoughts, used to shatter the bigger enemy ships and terrorize the planetary populace below. They commonly took down enemy vessels by either physically pulling them apart or spraying a corrosive substance over the hull and melting it into slag within an instant. Dead now. Good riddance.

 **Hybrid Strains**

 **Infested humans, turians, salarians, and batarians:** Lumping them all together because they were all completely fucking useless for the most part. Turns out taking the guns away from humans, salarians, batarians, and turians kind of is a big "fuck you" to combat efficiency, and no amount of back mounted super talons is going to change that. For the latter two I found that biotic individuals manifested a slightly more impressive strain, but they were so fucking rare that there wasn't much to read about.

 **Infested asari (witches):** Turns out giving the zerg biotics turns them from a deadly horde of space bugs to a skittering apocalypse. Witches look like asari with serrated nails and teeth, purple carapace instead of blue skin, and a horrible predilection for charging into battle using biotics, shattering the front lines. Despite possessing the ability to claw and bite their way through neosteel, they prefer to use biotics to strike, pulling foes over, warping their armor, or even using biotics to assist their punches and sending foes flying.

Witches are extremely aggressive and hunt in groups. They also, rather disturbingly, have the ability to issue limited commands to feral zerg, meaning encounters with them in the Athena Nebula are usually heralded by the arrival of a hydralisk ambush first. Avoid at all costs.

 **Infested volus (banelings, "rolly pollies," "rolly bastards"):** Volus live in high pressure ammonia environments and tend to burst when their suits are ruptured outside their space, but that didn't deter the zerg from weaponizing the helpless fucks. The zerg encased them in a carapace and gave them a trigger mechanism to let the carapace split open. They also fed the stupid things vespene. In low pressure environments, banelings _light the place up_ , and their usage was crucial in the initial stages of taking Thessia. They were used primarily to bust open fortifications and large numbers of troops. Being fat, fragile, and glowing a vibrant green, most banelings were usually unable to close the distance to enemy troops before detonating and making a mess of the zerg's back ranks. To compensate, they usually got carted around by overlords and were dropped directly on the heads of whoever was unfortunate enough to be fighting the zerg that day.

There don't seem to be many banelings around these days, probably because suicide bombing does not lend itself to reproduction opportunities, but all it would take to bring these guys back is for the zerg to somehow get their shit together and start another rampage. So… extinct, basically.

 **Infested elcor (Dekuunalisks, "lost ones,"):** The most famous infested strain after the vorcha, dekuunalisks became a common sight after the elcor lost their homeworld. They are known for two things: firing massive spines in huge arcs at enemy forces, letting them serve as artillery for zerg forces, and their ability to speak. The translators adult elcor are all fitted with remained with them through infestation, and the sick Cerebrate that made them even saw fit to make sure next generation dekuunalisks somehow had the capacity for speech.

Their statements are generally prefaced with a "disgusting mockery" of elcor speech patterns such as "gurgling exclamation," "frenzied scream," and "enraged roar," followed by some declaration of an intent to kill their prey. Dekuunalisks are quite vocal in combat, and even in the back ranks their cries can be heard for some distance.

At medium and close range, dekuunalisks still possess the ability to fire spines, but do so at a lower rate as they have difficulty aiming. There have also been reports of them running down their foes and trampling them to death, but this generally only happened during routs. Dekuunalisks feature heavy armor and an astounding mix of durability and speed. They are also, unfortunately, one of the most common zerg breeds, and can be found throughout zerg space. Like the vorcha, it seems they were able to figure out reproduction without Cerebrate assistance. They easily outnumber actual elcor at this point.

 **Infested krogan (viscerators):** Fortunately only found on Tuchanks, the viscerators are easily the most dangerous hybrid zerg strain (excusing maybe the witches) and were created through the idiocy of one Warlord Okeer. The brutes have staked out a large section of Tuchanka for themselves, and apparently commonly prey on Thresher Maws in addition to other local clans.

How to describe them… picture the resilience of the ultralisk, the adaptability of the vorcha, the sadism and intelligence of the hydralisk, and then give them fucking biotics because OF COURSE OKEER WANTED SPECIMENS FROM THESSIA FOR HIS EXPERIMENTS.

In battle, viscerators work as teams, usually leaving one or two to handle the ambush from underground while the others close the distance or begin a biotic attack. Like witches, they too possess a biotic charge and commonly enter battle with it. Their hides are thick and hard to penetrate with weapons fire, and viscerators frequently enter blood rage during combat, making them disturbingly difficult to take down, and all too prone to suffering hideous injury, falling over, and then getting right back up as their secondary nervous system is kickstarted.

One public domain Umojan report stated that a team witnessed a viscerator's wounds literally closing before their eyes, and that the entire battle was punctuated with what might have been laughter.

If there is a silver lining, it is that even the krogan clans are united in thinking these things are abominations to be purged, and four different clans are currently making headway into doing just that. The dark cloud on that silver lining is that the Genophage cure was, in fact, effective, so their numbers are only being kept in check by their own natural aggression and their continual skirmishes with Thresher Maws and the aforementioned tribes. Current viscerators are notably more vicious than the original strains thanks to the constant conflict. It might be best to just have Tuchanka destroyed at this point – sounds worse than New Jersey.

 **Infested vorcha (…vorcha):** There are no unmodified vorcha anymore. Of all the races to be attacked by the zerg, the vorcha were the only species to adapt and then thrive off of the Hyper-Evolutionary Virus.

Unlike the rest of the strains, it is a near certainty we will run into these things. They populate the Terminus and Traverse systems in great numbers, and sometimes hire themselves out to the KMC. They are the closest the galaxy has seen and probably ever will see to "civilized" zerg. The extended lifespan granted by the zerg cells has, if anything, let the vorcha become more civilized than they were beforehand.

Unfortunately, all data on vorcha indicates that they vary widely in physical characteristics, as each is a product of the environment they live in. The only universal traits are a predilection towards violence as a means of communicating and solving problems, a weakness to fire, extreme regenerative capabilities, and the ability to reproduce like you wouldn't believe. Omega was apparently overrun by these things in a matter of months, and "pest control" is becoming increasingly difficult. Hell, if these things continue on the path they're on right now, we might see a (much slower) zerg invasion over the next few decades! Torch these things wherever you find them, Vice Admiral. They hire themselves out as mercenaries as a means of slowly colonizing the galaxy, I am sure of it.

 **Threat Level: Green**

You chose a good time for your invasion, Vice Admiral. The zerg's planet munching days are done – if you really wanted to and were willing to spend the lives, you could probably render the zerg totally extinct barring the vorcha within three decades. I'm not opposed to it. Good hunting!

 **Captain,**

 **Thank you for your efforts. Kindly never send anything to my desk again.**

 **-Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, Head of Special Projects Division**


	7. Hanar Ascendancy Threat Analysis

Vice Admiral,

Forgive the lateness of this report; it was deemed low priority extremely early on, and hard information has been difficult to find as well. The original report was handed to Captain Harris, but as the "Harris reports" ban has been in effect for over a year now, he was demoted to simply assisting me in acquiring data.

That being said, despite his eccentricity and occasional vulgarity, Captain Harris has been a valuable asset in deciphering both colonial and alien social media. I would highly recommend attaching him to any further problem cases where valuable or worthwhile information is hard to find.

It is with slight trepidation that I relay Harris's message to: "blow the big stupid jellyfish a kiss for me when you see them." He has earned the right to that message, and I hope you will see the implicit humor over any potential insult.

-Captain Rebecca Yang

 **Hanar Ascendancy (Illuminated Primacy): Political and Threat Analysis**

 **Hanar**

Clinging to the sidelines in the Council, the Hanar Ascendancy has never been a major political force in its own right. This has cast echoes in the media of all known races: Captain Harris reports that only 15 of the 200 extraterrestrial films he has watched featured a hanar character; two of those films featured a hanar only as a swiftly killed extra and the remaining thirteen were the notably exploitative Blasto films.

The hanar resemble Earth jellyfish and communicate through bioluminescence. Said bioluminescence is indecipherable to all but themselves, and as such the hanar utilize translators similar to the elcor when traveling. The hanar are incredibly polite, and prefer to refer to themselves as "this one" unless engaging in what they call "regrettable rudeness." Hanar of sufficient fame may also refer to themselves as "I."

The hanar worship the protheans, whom they style as "Enkindlers." They prefer that other races leave the prothean ruins where they find them, lest they treat these holy sites with unintentional disrespect. It seems the hanar had early contact with these forbearers, and undoubtedly had a positive interaction. Unfortunately for them, the incredible utility of prothean technology means these ruins are usually ransacked, and the hanar are usually unable to prevent this from happening. When ruins are discovered close to their space, they typically blockade the planet in an effort to curtail Council intrusions. These blockades are surprisingly effective, likely because no Council race could attack the hanar without significant political fallout. The compromises made in the resulting agreements with the Council usually involve significant monetary contribution to the Ascendancy (referred to as "tithing" by the hanar) and have left the Ascendancy as one of the wealthiest minor alien races.

The hanar also claim a client race to their name, the drell. The drell are a lizard race whom the hanar rescued from their home planet's environmental collapse in exchange for acting as the "hands of the Enkindlers, working their will." This chiefly means drell serve as foot soldiers, sailors, and assassins for the Ascendancy. More will be covered later.

Aside from the drell and the Enkindler worship, the hanar's notability lies mainly in their lack of notability. They joined the Council without any drama in the early 1700's, and have never sought membership status. Their aquatic biology has precluded most attempts at colonization, but their differing needs also contributed to the lack of friction with other races. While salarians and asari might vie for the same planets, the hanar seek only worlds with a suitable water covering of at least 80%, in addition to a host of other requirements.

That same biology rendered the zerg unable to attack the hanar in the Great War. There have been only a few reports of aquatic zerg, and all of them indicate incidental infestation rather than a deliberate attempt to expand to an aquatic frontier. The hanar's aquatic nature, when coupled with their largely automated defense systems and dedicated drell defenders, rendered their homeworld of Kahje unassailable by zerg forces. However, due to the hanar's own difficulties in combat as well as the minute nature of their military, their contributions in the Great War were limited to lending assistance to asari evacuation efforts and funding reparation.

As turian general Desolas put it in the aftermath: "(The hanar) are polite, well-intentioned, and utterly useless." To their credit, the hanar were in no way deterred by this assessment, and their contributions were well enough received by the asari, who extended fervent thanks and erected a statue in their honor on Illium.

In recent years, the Ascendancy has become much quieter, and rumors persist that they will shortly leave the Citadel Council. Indeed, the hanar have already threatened as such, citing the disunity between the three Council races as "displeasing the Enkindlers." They have apparently taken the geth and turian claims of Reapers very seriously, but dislike the turian's blatant exploitation of this persistent fear. Their drell intelligence agents have become increasingly common in Citadel and indeed Koprulu space, where they exchange information and bullets with Umojan Shadowguards and the STG.

They have also greatly expanded the size of their own navy, again likely in response to this Reaper threat. Their monetary wealth and political clout with the asari has been leveraged into expanding their military two and a half times over, dwarfing the navies of other minor nations such as the ITSA and Umojan Protectorate. The turians suspect the hanar are preparing to back the Salarian Union in the oncoming Council Civil War, but the data does not point to that. STG agents are frequently waylaid and killed by drell agents, suggesting that the hanar are on neither side at present.

Harris is looking into unverified reports of experimental hanar weapons tests at present, and says he will have a file for us within three weeks. His early assessment includes the phrases "bafflingly advanced" and "need to figure out who the [ **redacted** ] these Tal'Darim guys are."

 **Drell and military**

As a minor race that have at no point in history been a threat to anyone, the hanar military is largely undocumented outside of secure circuits. The only relatively public aspect of their forces are the drell.

The drell are a lizard species with an eidetic memory and are well-adapted to harsh climates. They are notable chiefly for their considerable dexterity, stamina, and spirituality. Their original homeworld, Rakhana, was a largely arid world that hit post-peak resources well before the drell achieved space flight. The hanar evacuated several million of their people in exchange for their assistance in "the less fortunate aspects of living in the galactic community." The drell, for their part, seem to be quite thankful to their hanar masters for their continued survival, even if it is technically slavery and hanar environments frequently lead to long-term health complications for their people.

The drell's role in the hanar's military is simple. They _are_ the hanar's military. The hanar might captain or crew spaceships or don specially designed power armor on rare occasions, but these contributions pale in comparison to the millions of drell serving as sailors, marines, and assassins.

Drell assassins are ironically the most visible element of the Ascendancy, if only because they alone frequently venture far from hanar borders to fulfill their tasks. Thus far, drell assassins have proven themselves unerringly effective and resourceful. They are trained against psionic probing, know how to disable or kill all known species in the easiest fashion possible (barring the protoss … we think), and have proven themselves effective in both close quarters and long range assassinations. More disturbingly, the drell have also demonstrated a willingness to use suicidal tactics to accomplish their objective, pointing to the simmering fanaticism in both themselves and the hanar they serve.

Ascendancy targets typically:

Are turian, salarian, or Dominion

Oppose Reaper preparation

Endorse hawkish tendencies and encourage inter-Council conflict

Endorse prothean research and archaeology

Endorse conflict with the protoss

All drell elements beyond this are more obscure. There are documented cases of drell marines who, in light of the Great War have begun to don amphibious versions of CMC suits with "gatling harpoon guns(?)" but even Harris believes this to be hyperbolic or downright false. Drell assassins notably do not use CMC suits, and have proven adept at bypassing their defenses to eliminate bodyguards. The best defense against these assassins, according to notable drell survivor Arcturus Mengsk, are psionic and biotic bodyguards.

 **Political Relations**

 **Salarian Union:** The Ascendancy is a thorn in the Union's side. Whatever the hanar's own nebulous goals, they appear to frequently run counter to the salarian's, but both of their operations are so utterly clandestine that neither side can do anything more than make remarks to each other that are as snide as they are utterly polite.

The hanar also hold a grudge against the salarians for their production of the Blasto films, which are wildly popular in Citadel and Koprulu space. While the first eight films were received with polite acceptance (and Blasto 7: Blasto Breaks Omega's First Rule was very positively received), the later films covering the Great War have been met with open revulsion. The latest film, Blasto 13: Blasto Slays the Zerg Overmind, led the Ascendancy to openly demand the Union ban the film, "lest they anger the Enkindlers."

 **Asari Remnants:** The only totally positive relationship the hanar possess lies with the asari. The asari are very grateful to the hanar for their surprising amount of support, and the hanar in turn respect the "Enkindler blessed" asari. Asari-hanar romantic entanglements have become increasingly common in the aftermath of the Great War. No doubt you will thank me for that mental image, Vice Admiral.

 **ITSA:** Oddly enough, the hanar strongly dislike the ITSA and have made this very (politely) clear. The ITSA "disrespect the memory of the Enkindlers" through their plundering of Eden Prime's ruins at the behest of Council archaeologists, and the hanar even threatened outright action against the ITSA at one point if they breached the ruins any further. The conflict was resolved when the hanar dispatched an archaeological team of their own with Council permission, and sanctified the ruins. What this sanctification entailed is unclear.

 **Volus Ultranationalists:** The hanar are unsupportive of the volus. If there is any consistency in their relations, it is that they do not support disunity, and the volus are very much pushing for active disunity in the Hierarchy. While no Ultranationalist supporters have yet been targeted by drell assassins, we judge it only a matter of time.

 **Elcor Remnants:** Oddly enough, the hanar donated a great amount to elcor rehabilitation charities, despite knowing that doing so would directly benefit many ITSA citizens. It appears that the hanar are consistently able to put aside whatever negative emotions they might be feeling in favor of aiding those in need. Admirable jellyfish.

 **Krogan:** "This one believes that the krogan are as useless as they are rude and endangered. This one strongly insists that all krogan consider themselves unwelcome in Primacy space, lest they discover firsthand what the displeasure of the Enkindler's can do to krogan flesh." –Laughs-at-Foolishness, hanar diplomat

 **Batarian Hegemony:** The hanar make useless slaves, and drell have ironically been proven more likely to revolt and kill their slave driver than any other known enslavable species, even the krogan. As a result, the batarians and hanar have an oddly cordial relationship, and the hanar even assisted in the liberation of at least one batarian world from rabid zerg forces. The batarian's exodus from the Council has not deterred friendly relations between the species, and if anything the hanar seem likely to imitate than scold.

 **Quarian Refugees:** The hanar vigorously disapproved of the quarians being removed from the Citadel, but otherwise have no known interactions with or stance on the wayward people.

 **Geth Consensus:** The hanar and geth are agreed on the Reaper's existence and the necessary preparations for their return. As a result, there have been numerous conspiracies regarding hanar ships being allowed in geth space, and Harris and I suspect they may be true. The hanar and geth tolerate no breaches in their border but both contributed massively to post-Great War cleanup. The more I look, the more similarities I see … but there are no recent documented cases of interaction. They are, at the very least, friendlier with the geth than the rest of the Council races.

 **Protoss:** No known recorded interactions … but reading between the lines reveals some _very_ interesting implications. The hanar claim to have been aware of the protoss and zerg long before the rest of Council space, though they did not know of their location. They claim the protoss are "twice blessed by the Enkindlers" and that the protheans are somehow linked to their race … which I find very unlikely. The hanar believe the protoss are "both integral and yet expendable" in the coming Reaper conflict, and apparently anticipate some kind of conflict or schism(?) with the Ascendancy in the coming years. We'll try to keep an eye on this, but it is unlikely that any more information is forthcoming until the protoss reveal themselves once more.

 **Threat Level: Green**

 **Threat Level: Harris Assessment: Purple – WE DON'T KNOW ENOUGH**

I surmise that the hanar's low willingness to send any ships or non-assassin personnel outside their borders and relatively small military means that they will be of no threat to the UED. Furthermore, the considerable distance between Koprulu space and hanar space means we would be unlikely to encounter the jellyfish in any case. The most the UED might have to fear from the Ascendancy are particularly cutting but politely phrased remarks.

 **Captain Yang,**

 **Excellent work, I will forward this report to Hackett and DuGalle.**

 **-Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, Head of Special Projects Division**

 **Update**

Sir, do NOT underestimate the jellies. I looked into the Umojan recon reports and have confirmed elements of fucking PROTOSS technology in available footage. There is something seriously wrong in hanar space – do NOT approach if given the chance, and take pains to secure key personnel against drell assassins. If one thing is clear, the hanar will NOT approve of UED intervention and will NOT hesitate to act against us. They will be heedless of cost, loss of life, and distance. WATCH FOR JELLYFISH.

Love,

Harris

* * *

 **A/N: I was planning on maybe doing this last week or earlier this week. I have big plans for the hanar. And, wouldn't you know it, LogicalPremise released his own document on the hanar before I did. On the one hand, I'm glad other people are taking these guys seriously, on the other, now I look like a copycat. :(**

 **Some of these reports are out of order chronologically. This is a consequence of me doing them literally only when I feel like it. When these are all done, I might reorder them. Or maybe not. Basic guideline: the bigger the threat, the more likely the UED researched them early on. Examples of bigger threats include the protoss, turians, salarians, and Dominion. The more obscure ones got researched later on, closer to the UED's launch. The hanar and zerg are two such examples.**


	8. Batarian Hegemony Threat Analysis

**Dr. Henwick,**

 **I require a comprehensive report on the batarians ASAP. It seems we are doomed to interact with the things.**

 **-Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, Head of Special Projects Division**

 **Political and Military Threat Analysis: Batarian Hegemony**

 **History**

Of all the alien species to have been marked by the colonials' entrance into the galaxy proper, the batarians perhaps were the most changed. It is a testament to the natural brutality of the KMC that the batarians, despite being so far removed geographically, ended up becoming so intimately bound with the colonial's affairs.

The batarians are a four-eyed anthropoid race native to the jungle world of Khar'shan. They typically stand taller than either humans or turians at an average of six and a half feet, and like humans, possess varying amounts of body hair on the face, chest, and back (albeit, to a greater extent.)

Batarians entered the galactic scene after the volus, unlocking the secrets of FTL travel through deciphered texts within badly damaged prothean ruins, continuing the trend of aliens borrowing the tools of the ancients rather than forging their own. The batarians proceeded to make nuisances out of themselves for the next eight hundred years through their practices of slavery, blatant xenophobia, and aggressive colonization close to other Council territories. Despite their brazen displays, however, their antics were kept easily in check by STG specialists, who had decoded every known batarian encryption and occasionally amused themselves by planting new ones in the heads of the batarians' own inept infiltrators.

At the time of Relay 118's opening, the batarians began their own push for a Council seat, citing their connections in the Terminus Systems and substantial military as "a good enough reason as any" to be considered for a seat. When Councilor Tevos pointed out the Hegemony's history of poor behavior and blatant xenophobia, the batarians took it in uncharacteristically good humor, pointing towards a recent change in leadership and a potentially new direction for their government (see below for more.) The Koprulu Sector changed that.

To Anto, the batarian ambassador to the Council, Thessia represented an enormous opportunity to his people. Here at last, his people could prove their worth and dedication to the galactic community at large, and hopefully secure a Council seat in the bargain. If the terrans could be promised a seat, why couldn't they? Anto contacted the Hegemon and told him to prepare Batarian First Fleet, and to load their ships with as many SIU troopers as they could handle. Thus, the batarians entered Thessia.

From the accounts of survivors and Desolas's public memoirs, the batarians by all accounts performed magnificently. Their previously mocked harpoon weapons, designed to punch through heavy plating and inflict massive bleeding, found worthwhile targets in the larger zerg broods, while the smaller zerg fell victim to the batarians' shock nets and their brutal powered gauntlets. By the time allied forces limped their way to the second cerebrate, the batarians had impressed the protoss enough to join them in the final charge against the throbbing zerg brain while the other forces provided a distraction. When Orbital Platform Siha came down, however, only three SIU soldiers survived the impact, and none of them with fully intact limbs. The sacrifice of the Hegemony's forces proved very high. I am left wondering what Anto must have thought, then, when said sacrifices were shrugged off by the Council in favor of disowning the asari and beginning their selfish cold war?

After an epic and now memetic forty-five minute rant in the Citadel Tower, Anto disbanded the embassy and announced the exit of the Hegemony from the Council. By the time Anto returned home, a new terran faction tearing through the Terminus Systems and looting everything in sight had been sighted. The Kel-Morian Combine.

 **Recent History: The KMC Corruption and an Unholy Alliance**

The Hegemon at the time, Yagza the Conciliator, had spent the last twenty years of his life revolutionizing the Hegemony political machine. Gone were the days of openly decrying the promiscuity of the asari, the rigidity of the turians, and the duplicity of the salarians. The priest and political castes might have sullenly muttered to themselves about the heathen ways of foreigners, but Yagza recognized, probably accurately, that the ways of his people were widely seen by the galaxy at large as obscene, and that they would never be relevant until something changed. Hundreds year old legislature was overturned to make way for more relevant laws, and the slave laws were modified to more easily allow the lowest caste to work their way up from the bottom.

How could Yagza have known that in his lifetime, he would encounter a people just as depraved as his own?

The KMC saw in the Hegemony an opportunity. Fellow slavers and opportunists par excellence, barred from the Council, and in a similar dire need for allies, Vido Santiago and Elias Kelham extended greetings and the hand of friendship. Suddenly, the laws making trade and political alliances easier for aliens caught the attention of the previously despondent governor caste, as well as the ever enterprising merchants.

Yagza, at first enthusiastic, watched in horror as the KMs, having quickly assessed the situation, armed his political rivals to the teeth with Koprulu technologies and instructed them, in no uncertain terms, to make certain their leader was compliant.

The armed uprising that followed could not truly be called a revolution, for it was almost entirely bloodless. Yagza sent a short, poignant statement to the Council before meeting the crowd outside his palace. He was strangled to death in full view of the curious Santiago and Kelham, who were sternly informed that spilling the blood of the Hegemon was punishable by death.

Anto the Vindictive, disillusioned former ambassador, rose to the rank of Hegemon. Within a year, the first Waygates orbited Khar'shan. The Hegemony cast its lot with the Combine.

 **Castes**

The caste system within the Hegemony is as complex as it is inflexible. Despite the slight loosening of the laws due to Yagza's influence, the truth of the matter is that the top and bottom of the caste system will never move. The slaves will remain slaves, the soldiers will remain soldiers, and the priests and governors will retain their extensive powers. That being said, the Book of Karza (available over the extranet in English and still barely decipherable) includes any number of loopholes, exceptions, and marriage laws that may allow advancement to even the lowliest slave. The odds are minute, but measurable, and even the most conservative priest would not deny advancement.

However, it is worth noting that, unlike our own (or even most) races the batarians do not actually prize advancement. Ambition, certainly. Success, definitely. But climbing up the castes is discouraged, if for no other reason beyond tradition that even the batarians recognize that their system is to some degree rigged. Slave revolts among batarians slaves are uncommon. The soldiers complain, but desertion is practically non-existent. Only among the merchant caste is there a true desire for advancement, and that mostly stems from their extensive interaction with the Terminus Systems.

That being said, their relationship with the KMs could eventually change this voluntary stagnation … provided the UED permits these miserable specimens of sapience to survive long enough to improve themselves.

Forgive my less-than-professional tone; aside from the obvious disgust I feel at these slaving degenerates, I have found a great deal of gender stratification within their society, and the nature of said stratification disgusts me. Both male and female batarians can be found at all levels of batarian society barring the military and the Hegemon. Female batarians born into the soldier caste cannot be soldiers … and are either lowered into the slave caste or used as "birthers" to continue the production of soldiers. It says a great deal that even the KMC have displayed open disgust at this practice. At least the ban on female Hegemons makes a certain warped kind of sense: Karza, the first and greatest Hegemon, was male, and thus there can only be male Hegemons.

 **Slave Caste:** Lowest of the low, performers of manual labor deemed degrading or simply more tedious than usual. The lucky ones might become bed slaves. The unlucky ones end up colonizing planets in the Traverse. Non-batarians have it worse, as they lack the opportunity for advancement and are frequently discriminated against, even by the other slaves.

 **Soldier Caste:** Despite the excessive posturing of the merchants and governors, the batarians do not actually place much value in battle and conflict. From an objective standpoint, one might argue that the batarians are weary of placing too much power into the hands of their soldier caste and tempting an overthrow of their system. From a non-objective standpoint, I call the batarians ungrateful bastards who do not pay nearly enough recognition to the caste that won them the respect of the protoss. More on their military shortly.

 **Labor Caste:** Interestingly, the batarians value labor more than soldiering. A peculiar reversal; see above for my thoughts on it. The labor caste is barely visible to the galaxy at large as they lack both opportunities and motive to travel, thanks to the government's strict rules regarding travel. In truth, they shore up the batarian economy to a far greater degree than any slave, but both popular opinion and the batarians themselves would deny this.

 **Merchant Caste:** The most frequently encountered batarians outside their space, merchants embody the true spirit of the batarian people: enterprising, opportunistic, and viciously unscrupulous. The merchant caste batarians are a common sight in the Terminus Systems, and it is usually the merchants who found new colonies, independent of the Hegemony or otherwise.

Calling them "merchants" does not quite do these specimens justice. They are just as often explorers, pirates, and colonists. The second tenet of Karza is (rough translation): "Wealth and riches to those who take what can be taken, stagnation and starvation to the sloth." The merchant caste capitalizes on all available opportunities or gaps in the market, taking advantage of the comparative amount of freedom they possess relative to other castes.

 **Governor Caste:** From here, the Hegemon is chosen, but the governors themselves are still less important and more numerous than the priests. Comprising representatives from various batarian colonies and nation states, the governor caste is chiefly responsible for justifying its own existence by making their KM allies happy and keeping the peace between their peoples. Ambassadors to other species are taken from this caste, and the position is considered highly prestigious due to the enormous number of opportunities the Hegemony might be presented by the alien nations. It is not uncommon for ritual combat to ensue to determine who the candidates will be: Anto reportedly killed seven other politicians for his own position prior to being Hegemon.

A small sub-caste within the group also trains in military tactics and strategy before entering their military as officers. Said governors receive little respect from their peers, but the soldiers have not been heard complaining.

In recent years, the gaps between the three castes have closed as the KMC empowers the merchants and governors with further wealth and technology while the priests have a harder and harder time controlling their previously complacent populace. Tensions are rising within the Hegemony as, at long last, the KMC accomplishes through raw greed what the Citadel could not through diplomacy: challenging the caste system.

 **Priest Caste:** The priests probably have more to do with governing than the actual politicians ... or at least, they used to. It is they who interpret the texts of Karza and enforce the caste system. It is also they who control popular support and opinion ... previously.

No governor has ever survived long without the support of the priest caste, as can be seen by Yagza's swift removal. In recent years, the KMC has taken a dislike to the priests, likely due to their beliefs making it sometimes difficult to cooperate with and occasionally disgusting them. A steady rift grows between those who command the faith of the people … and those who control the flow of income.

 **The Hegemon:** It is he who alone who may gainsay the priests, send forth Khar'shan's forces, or approve agreements with other races. Still, going against the grain produces predictable results, as Yagza demonstrated.

The power of the Hegemon remains steady while the priests is fading, even despite the recent overthrow of the past Hegemon. Anto, a shrewd negotiator thanks to many days spent in the Citadel Tower, has continually managed to consolidate his own power and make his own name known in KMC households through frequent appearances in KMC media.

Amusingly, despite having benefited greatly from the uprising, he approves the priest caste slowly hemorrhaging power and relevance, likely because he knows his own position is secure, and that even if the Hegemony were to be completely restructured by the aristocracy and merchants, they would still need a leader, and Anto has proven cannier than most.

 **Military Analysis**

The batarians themselves are reviled for their practice of slavery and their aggressive expansionism, but their (groundside) military is actually rather respected. The soldier caste (and they are soldiers, not warriors) must adhere to some of the strictest tenets of Karza and maintain impeccable conduct at all times. Soldiers are forbidden to dishonor the name of Karza; no tactics that he himself would have disapproved of. This does not disclude brutal measures such as biological WMDs or slamming asteroids into planets, but batarians are forbidden to loot or rape, and taking slaves of their own is likewise forbidden unless they receive a commission. The discipline enforced on the soldier caste is comparable to the turians' own, albeit with far fewer opportunities for advancement.

The batarian navy has until recently lagged behind most other races; the fragmented prothean ruins allowed them to limp to the Citadel and back, but provided far less data on the usage of eezo enhanced ship guns. As a result, according to the KMC, much of the batarian navy feels and indeed looks "cobbled together," trading all aesthetics and creature comforts for speed and bigger guns. While the ships work and indeed, cost far less than might be expected, the toll on batarian crews is enormous, and no batarian patrol can survive leaving port for an extended period of time lest the supplies run out and/or the crew goes insane.

Previously the batarian navy's chief strength was its ability to project a large amount of power over a small area for a very brief amount of time – even the salarians respected the raw short term power the batarians could produce. Extended slugging matches with the Council swiftly favored their forces as logistics set her cold unfeeling jaws over the batarian troops, but even then the Council usually ended up operating at a loss. The batarian navy knows where to pick its fights – even if the merchants of the Hegemony do not.

With the advent of KMC weaponry, batarian heavy cruisers and dreadnoughts now feature rudimentary yamato cannons, while several cruisers and frigates now sport cloaking devices. While this has done an undeniable service to the navy's overall combat capability (and greatly angered Council members into the bargain,) the large reactors have further reduced room for other supplies and crew amenities. The batarians' reach is shortened, even if they now hit harder than ever before. It is clear the KMC intends to use their navy as a vanguard of their eventual counterattack against the Dominion. How they intend to maintain the batarian crews and ships while also preventing the crews from going insane is unclear.

The batarian groundside forces are a far sturdier specimen of an organization. Each batarian trooper trains with unguided primitive Kishock harpoon guns and rudimentary power gauntlets, weapons that require a great deal of strength to use in addition to significant aim compensation in the case of the guns. Mastery of these weapons is required before advancement can occur, at which point the batarians are issued the weapons they can expect to use on the battlefield – all of which are considerably easier to use.

Batarian troopers are trained in endurance and survival training in a wide array of environments, from the thickest jungles to the most frigid of tundras. Troopers are issued only the most rudimentary of equipment, most of which is purchased from Batarian State Arms. While previously a joke of a weapons manufacturer, recent events have earned BSA much respect.

Surprisingly, the batarian troopers have consistently overperformed in battle – though both my and their enemy's expectations have always been low. Their esprit-de-corps is commendable, and their leadership is well aware of proper utilization of terrain and artillery. Batarians also make use of psychological warfare, issuing war chants that can be heard for miles while sounding off incredibly deep war horns that KMC officials report make them "queasy" to hear. Thanks to the deep voices of the batarians and the translator's inability to produce an accurate language equivalent of their "haka," the effect is surprisingly unnerving to colonial troops.

Basic batarian infantry have adopted CMC armor, but prefer to keep their units mixed, as the greater size of the armor hampers mobility in jungles and urban areas. Their weaponry is now fully provided by a freshly invigorated Batarian State Arms, who have adopted colonial weaponry practices and upscaled their own guns. If the prevalence of BSA weapons in the Terminus Systems is any indication, quality has finally overtaken quantity in importance to the weapons manufacturer.

Of note are the rare, well-trained, and well-equipped Special Intervention Unit (SIU.) Deployed only in the most hostile and high-risk of situations, the SIU are trained to deal with literally any situation in the most efficient and final manner possible. SIU troopers seem more likely to be born than made: any member of the soldier caste may apply to be a member, but the KMC reports a near 20% mortality rate and a staggering 93% washout rate. Only the finest physical specimens possessing the most iron of wills will make it.

KMC reports on their capabilities are scanty. The SIU earned the respect of the protoss on Thessia (no mean feat) but beyond their jet black armor and oddly cordial behavior to the other races, the SIU is largely an unknown. One KMC platoon, unable to crack a heavily fortified Dominion outpost in New Sydney, were given a surprise assist by the SIU. The KMC sent them out, and "watched the red explosions blossom on the horizon, while snatches of screams could be heard on the wind." The platoon walked into the encampment the next day to find the batarians burning the colonial bodies all in a pile, each corpse's eyes gouged out. Only two of the twenty-six batarians sent in were lost.

 **Political Relations**

 **Asari Republics:** It is unclear how many times the asari have built a bridge with the batarians only to watch in resignation as the batarians burned it. Their history together is punctuated by periods of uneasy peace, followed by the batarians predictably overstepping their bounds. The Republics has always been revolted by slavery, and the frankly horrifying stories of asari slave treatment have long been a sticking point. That being said, times have changed.

Of the races in the Council, the asari and batarians probably have the most neutral relationship. The two fought together on Thessia, and were subsequently ignored despite their considerable contributions and sacrifices. The batarians are content to harass the salarians and turians while leaving the asari alone, something that gives their people a small amount of satisfaction. This absence of conflict cannot quite be attributed to altruism, however: the Republics now heavily garrison their remaining planets on the orders of the High Matriarch, making pirate raids cost prohibitive, and asari are also responsible for funding the Eclipse Sisterhood, a sizable mercenary organization currently employed by the KMC. This has resulted in a sort of "friend of my friend" understanding between the two governments, even if it is implicit rather than stated.

There is no formal contact between their peoples (and indeed, no communication appears likely for quite some time) but the present time seems to be one of the lighter periods of interaction between them. Anto the Vindictive has also been known to occasionally praise the asari's resilience to the KMC, although it is unclear whether this is genuine or a simple attempt to please Aria.

 **Salarian Union:** The relationship between the salarians and batarians is reminiscent of a comedy routine. The batarians are the swaggering braggarts with much to prove, while the salarians are the giggling trickster in the corner. Aside from the sudden alliance with the KMC and their exit from the Council, the batarians have never surprised the Union. The Union has decrypted everything, has spies everywhere, has bugs everywhere.

When the batarians stepped on the Council's toes in the past, the asari issued sanctions, the turians engaged in costly slugging matches, and the salarians waited for the opportune moment. Then, when the smoke cleared, batarians would find water supplies contaminated with viruses, omni-mines strewn about their own campsites, and would be issued orders that charged them directly into artillery fire. Meanwhile, the orbiting ships find themselves firing madly into one another as their sensors go haywire and indicate enemy ships closing in from all directions.

Like the turians, the batarians have decried the salarians as cowards, and struggled to take revenge. The recent cold war has finally provided the opportunity, as state-funded pirates strike at outer salarian worlds before fading back into the Terminus Systems. The actions are completely deniable and diverting significant resources towards the batarians would provide an opening to the turians. The Hegemony is finally able to slightly even the score.

 **ITSA:** The only Council affiliate with both the means and motivation to strike against (and be struck by) the Hegemony, the ITSA openly reviles the slavers, particularly as unscrupulous merchant-caste members take up piracy and strike lightly defended ITSA worlds. The brief conflict in 2504 has not been forgotten, and the ITSA long for a more conclusive showdown, even despite their own comparatively miniscule fleet. The Hegemony, for their part, wish the ITSA would leave them alone; they know where their ships are headed for shortly, and can ill-afford an invasion while their ships are absent. One spark could set off the fiery new nation, and the Hegemony are desperately trying to avoid that.

 **Irune Ultranationalists:** The batarians have pointedly remained quiet about the volus. It seems they have assumed (correctly) that their support might taint the reputation of their cause. Then again, the volus have openly stated their loathing for the batarians, so that instead may be the cause.

 **Elcor Remnants:** See ITSA. The elcor are slow to anger but impossible to calm once enraged, and the batarians are far past the point of forgiveness in their eyes. The fact that elcor have historically been among the most prized of slaves for their strength means that even before the formation of the ITSA, the elcor and batarians have had a turbulent relationship.

 **Krogan:** Krogan slaves aren't worth it, while batarians are frequently better employers than sport. The two have a neutral relationship, though batarians are a far more tolerated sight than most Council races.

 **Quarian Refugees:** Quarians are valued for their technical expertise, but their diets and exosuits typically proved expensive to accommodate for. Quarians traveled batarian space frequently back before the Great War, and many had trade ties and agreements to prominent batarian families. Like the hanar, their finicky biology proved the quickest path to understanding; quarians are forbidden to be taken as slaves. The fact that the quarians also possessed an enormous fleet and little reason to hold back if pushed certainly helped. According to the KMs, the batarians nowadays frequently lament the absence of the Migrant Fleet within their borders; in addition to believing that their technical expertise could have been bent towards joining their alliance, the batarians actually enjoyed their company.

 **Geth Consensus:** No known contact aside from fighting together in the Great War. It is unclear if the geth really understand the consequence of slavery or how repulsive it is to most sapients.

 **Protoss:** Of all the races that had to earn the respect of the protoss for their combat prowess, it had to be the batarians? Does the elder race not disapprove of rampant slavery and xenophobia? Do these advanced being truly value mastery of the martial arts over a robust sense of morality? This is truly sickening.

No known contact between the two races following the Great War.

 **Threat Level: Orange**

Along with their KMC allies, the batarians represent a serious problem. They are numerous, motivated, and will shortly be present in force within the Koprulu Sector. The relatively ramshackle nature of their fleet and primitive mastery of cyberwarfare may prove their undoing, but the fact is that they are too numerous and too prone to unexpected bouts of uncharacteristic cunning for me to endorse their immediate destruction. The KMC involvement points to an eventual political revolution as the aristocracy is finally overtaken by the merchants and soldiers, but given the KMC's and merchant caste's characters I would say whatever new government that rises from the ashes will be even worse than the previous one.

I am forced to recommend an alliance with the KMC. Mengsk must die and must die soon. I would suggest utilizing the batarian/KMC alliance to accomplish this while slowly undermining their military capability. The easiest means of doing this would be destroying the remaining Waygates over Moria; without them both governments suffocate.

 **Dr. Henwick,**

 **No one enjoys recommending a deal with the devil, and certainly no one enjoys making it, either. Your suggestion will be considered, however repugnant it might be.**

 **-Alexei**

* * *

 **A/N: Due to popular demand, asari are next.**


	9. Asari Republics Threat Analysis

**Major Danica Espinoza,**

 **Despite my own significant misgivings regarding your past association with the now defunct Southern American Coalition, I have been continually recommended your services by both Fleet Admiral Hackett and Admiral DuGalle. As a result, I am now assigning you one of the harder intelligence reports on our list: the Asari Republics (Remnants.) I need you also to document existing asari populations outside the Republics, and also list the known existing Psi Index charts for the colonial and alien nations.**

 **You have six weeks. I suggest you begin immediately. Captain Harris will assist you. He is expendable.**

 **-Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, Head of Special Projects Division**

 **Asari Republics**

The asari are a blue-skinned, monogendered, anthropoid race blessed with the gift of biotics and a generous lifespan. Hailing from the now infested world of Thessia, the asari are perhaps among the most ubiquitous aliens in the galaxy, even despite the hard times currently faced by their central government.

Possessing bizarre sexual characteristics, the asari universally appear as attractive, blue skinned women, complete with mammary glands and (if Harris' enthusiastic studies of colonial pornography are to believed) female sexual organs greatly similar to the human equivalent.

Asari are sexually compatible with all genders of all species. The offspring will always be asari, and as a result will most likely outlive their "father." The asari sexual act appears to be through a mental link with limited physical contact … although Captain Harris reports that otherwise unnecessary physical contact may be welcomed depending on partner preferences.

If you are wondering why I am delving into the nature of asari sexuality, it is because said sexuality greatly informs the rest of their culture. Asari are encouraged to seek out aliens in favor of other members of their own species for the sake of genetic variety, which means that, coupled with their lengthy lifespan, asari can be found in all sectors of the galaxy in surprisingly large numbers. To be sure, the Asari Republics represent the vast majority of their species, even in its declined state, but bona fide asari citizens of practically every other alien state can be found. The greatest clusters currently exist in the ITSA, Umojan Protectorate, and the Terminus Systems, and their numbers still swell from sporadic influxes of refugees.

 **History**

The asari were the first alien race to discover the vast space station known as the Citadel over three thousand years ago. The salarians followed shortly thereafter, making the alliance between the two the oldest institutional relationship in the known galaxy. The asari and salarians together formed the Citadel Council.

From here, let us skip forward past the Rachni War and the Krogan Rebellions, in which the asari were heavily involved but did not perform any noteworthy controversial actions (that would appear to be the salarians' job.) When the Koprulu Sector opened, sparking the Great War, the asari were instrumental in the opening stages. While friendly contact was first established between the turian general, Adrien Victus, and the ghost known as Sarah Kerrigan, it was the asari who turned that friendly contact into a full alliance.

The asari dispatched First Fleet to assist in efforts against the Confederacy, as well as creating translators with the aid of willing colonial volunteers and Sarah Kerrigan. Their own biology, coupled with the power of the colonials' impressive industry, resulted in working translators being constructed with all speed. The asari played a key role from that point forward, their awkward looking ships quickly becoming feared by the Confederacy for their combination of raw firepower, considerable speed, and impressive resistance to energy weapons. Their commandos likewise proved themselves adept at eliminating considerably heavier armored Confederate marines with their marksmanship and biotics.

Unfortunately, the Great War ended hideously for the members of First Fleet, and for their species as a whole. First Fleet was eliminated by a surprise zerg attack in the orbit of Tarsonis courtesy of Arcturus Mengsk, and their considerable biological capability was subsequently noticed by the zerg. The homeworld of Thessia came under attack by no less than the Zerg Overmind, and with the relays locked out, the majority of their fleets could not lend any assistance.

By the time the protoss known as Tassadar cleansed the Overmind off the surface of their homeworld, the damage was done. Every inhabited world in the Athena Nebula was overrun by biotic zerg. When the relays unlocked and the waiting remainder of the Republic fleet limped through, their goal was not to reclaim, but to evacuate. Millions of surviving asari were piled aboard the waiting ships, all the while hounded by the ravenous zerg. By then, the Council had made their infamous decision to remove the asari from their Council seat, citing the need for a member to be capable of both defending Council borders in addition to their own. The asari, once proud and haughty, now became bitter and resentful. One asari matriarch on Eden Prime, Aethyta, knew exactly what to do.

 **Recent History**

Matriarch Aethyta left Eden Prime for Illium, where many of the asari refugees were bound. She called for a council of matriarchs; such a council had not been called since the krogan pressed close to Thessia in the Rebellions. Citing a need for unity such as the asari had never seen before, Aethyta called for a direct vote from every remaining asari to restructure the Republics from a direct e-democracy to a more united representational democracy. Stressing the importance of immediate action in the face of turian aggression and terran ambitions, Aethyta's words stood in stark contrast to the other matriarchs, who pledged to direct their efforts toward "maintaining the foundations of our culture even in the face of such tragedy" and relying on the other races for aid.

The asari maidens, normally disinterested in politics, showed up in record numbers for the vote. By the end of 2501, High Matriarch Aethyta claimed her seat in Illium and declared that the time of asari complacency was over.

"We aren't warriors like the turians or mad scientists like the salarians, and all our soft power meant nothing in the face of annihilation," said Aethyta in her famous inaugural speech. "Most of us are mothers, some are soldiers, and a good number are, let's be honest, strippers. We've been dancing these endless nights away, outliving our foes rather than confronting them. Well, look where that's got us. One disaster and we're crippled; all that history and all of those political ties vanishing into smoke.

So no more waiting. No more playing the long game until our enemies either die or get taken out by our allies while we pretend like we had foreseen it all along. It's time the asari unshackled themselves from the other races and earn their place in the galaxy on their own merits, as the turians did. As the terrans are doing. Ladies – it's time to get to business."

 **The Asari Populations**

As you requested, I will document major known asari populations along with what is known about their major colonial facets through colonial social media. This carries with it a strong chance of stereotyping, but I would note that stereotypes have historically proven an accurate mental shorthand for a people at large, despite the stigma.

Asari within the **Terran Dominion** are typically maidens and a few matrons who became smitten with a colonial during the Great War and immediate cleanup. The chance to interact with a new race and live in a new sector is too exciting an opportunity to pass up for these individuals, even if the government they end up under is far more oppressive than the Republics they left.

Dominion asari are a great demonstration of the cultural malleability of their people; they take after the hardworking and down-to-earth nature of their colonial partners and peers, and are typically enormous fans of Arcturus Mengsk. However, this aping of Dominion customs is tempered with a strong amount of asari class; they encourage those around them to question things they are told and approach life in new directions wherever possible. Planets such as Halcyon and Tyrador IV, which feature large asari populations, have displayed a much more liberal bent than most other Dominion worlds, and asari are slowly chewing their way into Dominion politics. Apparently, the young government is no great challenge to navigate for immigrant sapients who, at their very youngest, are a century old.

Emperor Mengsk has been slow but willing to introduce reforms to make way for asari citizens. Asari are already allowed to run for office as planetary governors, and asari born to a colonial/asari pairing receive all the same rights as their human equivalents. A very small number of asari have also enlisted, giving the Dominion a small amount of biotic capability on the battlefield.

 **Salarian Union** asari are of a much older pedigree. As the salarians and asari have been long time political partners, there have been more salarian/asari pairings than any other in history – even if the minute lifespan of the salarians typically restrict the relationships to being nothing more than flings to their asari counterparts.

Asari within the Union typically do not stay long. The planets are conducive to their living comfortably and the people are very friendly, but the salarian ways are strange and chaotic, constantly changing. Even the most die-hard maiden living life at the wildest would be hard-pressed to keep track of salarian trends in fashion, music, and politics. Whereas with longer-lived races the asari can find some semblance of stability, the difference in salarian/asari lifespan makes living on their worlds too difficult. Even salarian born asari typically leave Union space within a decade, usually citing the constant deaths of salarian companions due to age as being too much to bear.

As for citizens within the Union, these days they mostly represent asari unwilling to embrace the changes made by the High Matriarch. Most of them are heavily involved to some degree in the continuing turian/salarian cold war, either working against the turians or trying to keep the peace. These asari usually live in communes of their own, so as to numb themselves to the constant change of the salarians around them. Asari are fully permitted to take part in salarian politics, but all who do so usually exit the political battlefield with little more than a migraine. A significant portion of the existing salarian ground forces features asari commandos, whose emphasis on small yet potent operations works well with the Union's military philosophy.

 **ITSA** asari are a mix of asari left over from the original Eden Prime colonization and asari seeking to distance themselves from what they see as the inevitable escalation of the cold war. The ITSA, ever neutral in matters of strange aliens that they barely understand, accepts these asari with a shrug of their shoulders. As far as they are concerned, they owe the asari for the startup on Eden Prime, and so long as they work hard, there should be no trouble.

ITSA asari are prone to quick advancement within the ITSA before hitting a glass ceiling. Their experience lends itself well to colony planning and taking care of some of the more exhaustive areas of government that the colonials themselves are inexperienced in (basically anything that is not military or agriculture related) but the ITSA has rejected every single asari attempt to secure a long-lasting non-ambassador position within their government. This can easily be traced to the seemingly friendly yet casually racist attitude of ITSA citizens; they have no interest in being ruled by another government, and to them, that is what the asari represent. Asari prefer to live within elcor communes for this reason.

The ITSA has citizenship laws in place for asari citizens, and are actually the easiest colonial nation to acquire citizenship status. Unfortunately for the asari, part of the regular process requires renouncing their citizenship to all other governments, meaning the actual number of asari citizens remains small. Asari are permitted to join the ITSA military and even acquire citizenship through service, and as a result the ITSA fields a significant amount of biotic power in ground operations.

 **The Umojan Protectorate** has easily proven itself the most popular colonial nation for asari immigrants. The relatively liberal nature of their government when coupled with the naturally academically prone people makes for an attractive area of space for asari to live in.

The asari did not "discover" the Protectorate until Councilor Udina controversially made public several maps of the Koprulu Sector and outlined his own governments' history and policies. The news spread quickly among the asari, and the Republics sent an ambassador through Relay-118 within the year. The news she brought back confirmed the wildest hopes of the asari people as a whole: a colonial government that was not xenophobic, fascist, or a practitioner of slavery.

The Umojans welcomed the asari with open arms, and both sides immediately sat down and began to satisfy one another's curiosity. The Protectorate, impressed with the asari's achievements and sympathetic at their plight, opened their borders relatively quickly to their people. Despite the considerable distance between Relay 119 and Protectorate space, asari refugees still pour into Protectorate space to this day – even as they fall prey to privateers and unscrupulous Dominion patrols out for an easy profit.

Asari within the Protectorate infest the nation at every level. While they are still by far a minority, most political groups feature at least one member, and one asari, Matriarch Talenya, was recently appointed planetary governor of Ugin II. Citizenship only requires living and working within Umojan borders for five years before becoming eligible – not much of an investment for beings who live for a millennia. Teaching is the go-to profession, particularly galactic history, an area the Umojans are trying to catch up in quickly.

Of course, this also means that asari/Umojan pairings are extremely common, to the degree that certain conservative elements within the Protectorate find alarming. The Umojans' natural xenophilia, coupled with what Harris calls the "banging bodies" of the asari, means that the pairings are natural for both the men and women of the Protectorate. While the official government response was to shrug its shoulders and proclaim that "such events are only natural," there is a considerable push within the Protectorate for tighter immigration laws to preserve Umojan culture in the long term.

Asari make up a significant aspect of the Protectorate military, mainly as intelligence agents and specialists. Turian officials have recently been horrified of joint commando/Shadowguard operations, in which the already devastating biotics of the asari were supplemented by the potent psionics of Umojan operatives. While this does little to shore up the low fleet numbers on either side of the Protectorate/Republics equation, it does point to a ground force that, pound for pound, can only be matched or overcome by the likes of the protoss.

 **Terminus** asari also deserve a mention, despite being a distinct minority. Maidens seeking excitement, lawlessness, and work as a mercenary usually have two destinations in mind: the Terminus Systems and Morian space – and the two are not mutually exclusive, thanks to the Waygates.

Asari within the Terminus Systems are not prone to actually living there; the constant tension of having to keep an eye out for one's own wellbeing in addition to one's offspring tends to produce noticeable strain – but maidens out for a thrill or matriarchs on business will inevitably find themselves drawn to the most lawless parts of space.

In recent years, the Terminus Systems has drawn an increased amount of asari traffic due to the proximity of the Republics' new capital, Illium. Aria T'loak, the most powerful de facto leader in the Terminus Systems, has also expressed, if not sympathy, than at least understanding towards her race's recent struggles, and has sent a surprising amount of aid to the new capital planet. This has drawn the attention of several matriarchs, who have waved away many of the previous insults and harsh remarks directed toward the outlaw queen. Mercenary work in the Terminus sphere, previously regarded as somewhat distasteful, is now regarded as a reasonable means of expanding weakened asari influence. It seems that Aria, once the renegade, is now regarded as being, in the broadest sense possible, on the same side as the Republics. Asari presence in the Terminus Systems has increased correspondingly.

 **Asari Military**

The asari have never glorified military service to the extent of the turians, krogans, or terrans. Even the salarians are prone to some chest-pounding and bravado every now and again, and their lifestyle promoting extreme competitions between families is again, off-putting to the cooperative asari. To the asari, the military is a consequence of having to deal with other alien nations during difficult times, rather than something to be nurtured and maintained even in peace. To the asari, the military life represents something of a stupid risk; they live for a thousand years when most other races do not – why risk an early end to an otherwise productive life for the sake of defeating a foe that will inevitably succumb to time?

The Swarm changed this attitude, much as I suspect the rachni and krogan threatened to do so in ancient history. The asari fleets were mangled by the bugs while their ground forces, designed with special ops in mind, were inevitably overrun by the significantly more numerous zerg. The asari doctrine, designed with the pacification of other alien nations through utilization of enormous amounts of soft power and the finest special forces in the galaxy, were nearly bludgeoned to death by a foe who could not be reasoned with. The turians, previously laughed at behind closed doors for their focus on hard power and "waving their swords around," as Matriarch Benezia once put it, now appeared gifted with foresight, something High Matriarch Aethyta was quick to point out. The Republics would have to change.

The Republics' fleet may have lost approximately half of its numbers due to zerg attacks and converting military vessels into civilian ones to assist in repairing their shattered industry, but it would be a mistake to dismiss the asari's navy. Their cruisers inflicted grievous casualties on Confederate and zerg forces alike during the Great War; the Silaris armor proved enormously resistant to the energy weapons of the terrans, while their speed and maneuverability proved a boon in harassing and otherwise distracting the zerg during the push to the Overmind.

Only 10 of the asari's dreadnoughts remain, with an eleventh super dreadnought, the _Destiny Resurgent_ , in construction. All asari ships have been refitted with terran derived (but asari designed) fusion cores, a pointed modification to allow the asari some freedom from the relay system. If the zerg were to lock the relays again, the asari would not be stranded far from home.

Most asari ships now carry a significant crew complement, a further concession to the importance of large scale ground operations that had been previously ignored. The asari now possess a dedicated marine division, when previously "asari marines" was a mildly insulting slur directed at turian-born asari rather than an actual branch of their military.

The asari navy is currently undergoing significant reparations. Production of asari cruisers and the new super dreadnought is of the highest priority, supplanted only by the continual resettlement of refugees and repairing the asari infrastructure. The current estimate for the asari reaching their former strength is approximately two centuries – a staggering number for non-asari, but merely an unfortunate, if reachable amount of time for the asari themselves.

Asari ground forces, meanwhile, have ballooned. Aethyta stopped short at enforcing mandatory military service, but did opt to include a large number of new benefits for service members and veterans alike, while also upping the average tour for the asari to twenty years from the previous twelve. After hiring several turian and (incredibly lucky) terran ground strategists from the Great War and analyzing all available battlefield data, the asari concluded that they needed to shift away from their emphasis on commandos and begin fielding proper armies while also fortifying their remaining worlds (primarily against pirate attack.)

The restructuring proceeded remarkably quickly, especially given the normally slow approach of this long-lived species. Mercenaries from all over the galaxy, driven home by the tragedies striking their families and the families of their friends, signed up and contributed their own considerable expertise. They couldn't make it as full-fledged commandos, but served well as marines.

The asari now field basic infantry, armored divisions, and artillery – elements of their military previously deemed too "loud and imprecise." The asari, like the salarians, have largely eschewed the bulky terran CMC armor. They are instead in favor of modifying and hardening their own kinetic barriers and training against heavy infantry; their biotics usually prove more than enough of an equalizer. Their armored units, Armali Bulwarks, are fitted with thin sheets of Silaris armor and designed to shoot down air targets and outrange terran siege tanks, making them especially difficult to approach. Their considerable speed and maneuverability likewise makes them formidable foes, vulnerable only to orbital bombardment or being severely outnumbered.

Asari marines, meanwhile, have been trained with orbital deployment in mind. Fitted with Umojan designed biotic implants (originally constructed with their own Shadowguards in mind) these asari have manifested biotics far beyond the pale of what was previously considered possible, suggesting a link between the two series of abilities. These marines, with the assistance of their implants, computer tracking systems, and a variety of recently approved asari combat drugs, can deploy themselves from high orbit using only their biotics, something Harris was quick to decry as "bullshit of the highest order." No accessible video records of asari orbital strikes exist, leaving us simply with a few Umojan reports, the gist of which consist of, "Thank God the asari are on our side."

 **Political Relations**

 **Salarian Union:** The salarians and asari have always been close, even in spite of their considerable biological and cultural differences. With the asari's exit from the Council, the salarians have sent a considerable amount of aid towards their old friends, hoping to speed their reinstatement and produce a viable ally against the coming turian horde. The asari, meanwhile, remain slightly bitter towards the salarians for their continued presence on the Council and relative lack of casualties in the Great War, but remain committed to their continued friendship.

 **ITSA:** The asari are bound up intimately in the founding of the ITSA. The asari originally helped found the colonies on Eden Prime, and some even remained behind to assist in further expansion as elcor and other asari flocked to the mostly neutral nation.

While the asari admire the ITSA's dedication towards the protection of its own citizens and its relative acceptance of other aliens as citizens, they dislike what they regard as "militant tendencies" and the ITSA's overall preference for conservative policies. Still, the two governments regard each other as friends, even if the asari are unable to sway the ITSA to declare against the Hierarchy should the worst (and inevitable) come to pass.

 **Elcor Remnants:** The asari and elcor have always regarded each other fondly, primarily because they possess a similar respect for patience. The asari regretted being unable to send aid to the elcor during or after the Great War, while the elcor acknowledge the asari as another species ravaged by the zerg, equally deserving of support. Their friendship has only begun to fray in recent years as the elcor become steadily more militant, encouraging pre-preemptive action against the Hegemony for their slave raids. The fact that these overtures have been so positively received by the ITSA at large disheartens the asari, and makes them wonder what fate lies in store for the once gentle elcor.

 **Volus Ultranationalists:** Unsurprisingly, the asari support the volus' striving for independence. The two species have long had a friendly relationship – the volus were third to discover the Citadel – and while there has always been a strong element of competition between the two and resentment from the volus over lack of a seat, their friendship persists.

The volus are now the dominant galactic economy over the asari, even as the KMC and Hegemony continue to climb in prominence. The Ultranationalists wish to widen the gap between themselves and the upstarts, and the Hierarchy clashes with those interests. A partnership with the asari (euphemistically referred to as a "merger,") in place of the turians would provide both sides with the resources they needed – ships for the asari, troops for the volus, money for all – but the Hierarchy is naturally opposed to it, and most volus are clear on wanting either equality or dominance over the asari, something that gives the matriarchs pause. How this situation will play out remains largely unknown … and will likely be heavily impacted by the culmination of the cold war.

 **Krogan:** The asari long ago gave up most hope on the krogan, whose Rebellions almost ended up threatening their own homeworld. To the krogan, the asari are either seen as wishy-washy types who are prone to turning their backs on their own krannt (krogan term meaning: those who would kill or die for you) when they deem it convenient, and try to act far too friendly to everyone they meet.

The krogan lifespan is comparable to the asari's, and the asari can easily fulfill any krogans' desire for children … the fact that couplings are not more common speaks to the asari's distaste for the volatility of the krogan, and the krogans' distaste for the seeming "falseness" of the asari.

 **Quarian Refugees:** The asari alone voted against the quarians being booted off the Council, but many suspect this was simply to preserve face, as the asari councilor at the time knew what the other two would vote. Quarians were largely barred from asari space with a few outliers such as Illium, and are to this day widely regarded as short-sighted and petulant. The quarian exodus into the Koprulu Sector was met with little attention from the asari, and even to this day they express little curiosity as to where the quarians went.

 **Geth Consensus:** The asari's natural xenophilia seems to stop short at the machines. The asari have never tried to establish contact with the geth since their exit from the Council, apparently deeming them too much of an unknown to risk communication. The only comment we could find from the asari regarding the geth expressed a continual disgust at the geth's "fearmongering" antics regarding the Reapers, and even then they were lumped in almost as an afterthought with the turians.

 **Protoss:** To the asari, the protoss are the ultimate curiosity. The rarity of their sightings, the obvious superiority of their technology, and their own impressive psionic capability has led most asari to conclude that the protoss would be the greatest boon to asari genetics since first contact with the salarians. What the protoss think about such potential partnerships is unknown – but given what we know about this elitist species, it is likely disgust.

There is no known contact between current asari governments and the protoss – but this is certainly not for lack of trying on the asari's part. No less than six separate asari expeditions have scoured the outer reaches of the Koprulu Sector, seeking out ancient ruins and known former protoss settlements such as Braxis for any sign of this enigmatic species. With each sighting of protoss fighting one another, attacking the Dominion, or destroying belligerent pirates, the speculation and excitement of the asari only grows, even as each of the six expeditions came back empty-handed.

If the protoss ever reemerge, it is clear that it will have massive ramifications for asari politics. Major families will scramble to be the first to successfully pair with a protoss, no matter how unlikely such a reality may be. Given the Psi Index below, I am left a little fearful at what such a union might produce. That asari child could easily signal the next stage of asari evolution … and while the protoss apparently lack for political ambition, the asari do not.

 **Psi Index**

The Psi Index is a Confederate designed scale that records the relative strength of an individual's psionic ability. The Umojan Transhuman Research Institute (rename to Umojan Transhuman and Extrahuman Research Institute pending) took an interest in the relative scores of other sapients, and sought out every other nation in order to begin taking statistics.

After three years of study they were successful. For ease of reference-

 **1-2** is practically no manifested ability. **Two** manifests only as increased empathy and occasional emotion reading.

 **3-4** indicates psionic sensitivity. This manifests as increased reflexes, empathy, and the ability to sense psionic activity. People within this range within the Confederacy and Dominion are commonly deployed as "wranglers," people used to seek out and recruit other sensitives.

 **5-6** manifests the far more recognizable and useful psionic ability of telepathy. People within this range are referred to as "teeps" and are highly sought after due to their use in negotiations with alien factions.

 **7-8** represents the high end of the scale for human ability; people with this score manifest telekinesis and are usually referred to as "teeks." These are exceedingly rare, and most humans and colonials will never meet one.

 **9-10** represent the mostly theoretical end of the Index; only two humans have ever scored this highly and both now serve as Council Spectres. These abilities manifest in a greater prowess in the above abilities, the ability to produce lightning or otherwise project energy, psionically project oneself, communicate via telepathy over vast stellar distances, produce visual illusions, induce hallucinations … etc. At this stage, it would be easier to list what individuals of this caliber are _not_ capable of.

I will now include the mean, median, mode, and range of all colonial and alien nations, and provide commentary where I feel appropriate. The UED has conducted its own tests and will also be included. Each nation included a sample size of 5,000, with each colonial nation skewing their results by including their most powerful psionic operatives. This was deemed acceptable by the Institute, as otherwise the colonials would appear no more psionic than anyone else.

 **Terran Dominion: Mean: 3 Median: 4 Mode: 2 Range: 9**

 **Independent Terran Systems Alliance: Mean: 1 Median: 3 Mode: 1 Range: 9**

 **Kel-Morian Combine: Mean: 2 Median: 2 Mode: 2 Range: 3**

 **Umojan Protectorate: Mean: 4 Median: 5 Mode: 4 Range: 8**

 **United Earth Directorate: Mean: 1 Median: 2 Mode: 1 Range: 3**

 **Turian Hierarchy: Mean: 1 Median: 1 Mode: 1 Range: 4**

 **Salarian Union: Mean: 1 Median: 1 Mode: 1 Range: 3**

 **Asari Republics: Mean: 4 Median: 4 Mode: 4 Range: 3**

 **Elcor Remnants: Mean: 3 Median: 3 Mode: 3 Range: 2**

 **Volus: Mean: 2 Median: 2 Mode: 2 Range: 4**

 **Krogan: Mean: 3 Median: 4 Mode: 3 Range: 3**

 **Hanar Ascendancy: Mean: 6(!) Median: 7(!) Mode: 6 Range: 5(!)**

 **Batarian Hegemony: Mean: 2 Median: 3 Mode: 3 Range: 4**

 **Vorcha: Mean: 9(!) Median: 9 Mode: 9 Range: 2**

 **Quarian: Unavailable.**

 **Geth: Non-applicable.**

 **Protoss: Unavailable, average, mode, and median presumed 10, range presumed between 0 and 1.**

The numbers most of note are the asari's, hanar's, and vorcha's. A few notes: both the ITSA and Dominion included Sarah Kerrigan's numbers to the Umojans, resulting in the skewed range for the ITSA; the Dominion is at least known to possess Nova Terra.

Re: the asari: it is clear to me that there is some kind of link between biotics and psionics, or at least the same parts of the brain that can most easily utilize biotics is also used for psionics. The asari's psionic ability mainly manifests itself as increased empathy, and until now the asari have lacked the means to record or improve on their own innate abilities. Thanks to the Umojans, that is now likely to change.

Re: the hanar: the jellies were unavailable for comment on this, but I find it suspicious that they were not in some way aware of their own abilities, or had used them in the past to assist living above the water. Again, Harris urges caution in regards to the hanar, and now believes they are part of some protoss conspiracy. Make of that what you will.

Re: the vorcha: this is shocking and disheartening, but not terribly surprising. The zerg were clearly psionic creatures, and all vorcha are now zerg. The only reason they do not use psionics beyond communicating with one another is likely due to pre-existing vorcha culture; i.e., they are still too primitive to begin making formal headway into realizing their own capabilities. Given the recent cultural revolution on Heshtok, that is likely to change. I am not looking forward to finding out just what the vorcha's next stage of development looks like.

The UED's own numbers are unsurprising: executing or exiling all known humans with psionic capability tends to markedly reduce one's potential for psionic advancement. The colonials, largely made up of genetic aberrations as they are, sped along the path of psionic evolution relatively quickly, thanks to nothing more than simple genetics. As Harris puts it, "This decision is about to bite us in the ass, _really hard._ " I concur with his professional assessment.

Turians and salarians manifest very little psionic ability. For the latter, I would think the reduced lifespan has something to do with it; a race's sensitivity seems to be related to longevity (see the long-lived protoss, hanar, asari, and the functionally immortal zerg.) For the turians … it is unclear. Colonial tests report that turians are not only barely prone to psionics, but also oddly resistant to them – the fact that Sarah Kerrigan easily penetrated General Victus's mind is a testament to her own strength, not turian weakness. Other psionic colonials report that reading a turian's mind is like boring through a thick sheet of ice – very difficult.

 **Threat Level: Yellow**

If given time to rebuild or worse, bond with the protoss, the asari could easily climb to red or even black threat levels. The asari are currently in a state of rebuilding, and that rebuilding will continue for another two centuries. The greatest threat of these people stems from their continual involvement with colonial governments, dragging human agencies ever deeper in association with the Council. This could prove problematic once the invasion begins and the colonials begin calling for aid.

As it stands, the asari are in no shape to contend the UED, but the UED is also in no shape to attack asari worlds; the new shape of their military makes assault in some ways an even dicier prospect than attacking the turians. Once the UED begins to establish itself, counteracting existing asari elements through such means as deportation or internment should be paramount.

 **I am beginning to understand how the SAC were so easily able to infiltrate and sabotage nearly every element of the UPL. Your assistance is appreciated.**

 **-Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, Head of Special Projects Division**

* * *

 **A/N: This was fun to write, hope it was fun to read.**

 **Feel free to request whatever you want next; I only ask that you at least comment on what was written for the asari in the process. ;)**

 **Once each faction is done (which is close) we will move on to analyzing aspects of the UED, which will mainly take the form of investigative journalism through a familiar face. Cheers!**


	10. Protoss Threat Analysis

**The Protoss**

In the process of documenting these enigmatic beings, I was forced to recall an old parable told to me during my earliest days in the UPL's Officer Academy in Orleans, that of an elephant being described by three blind men. One felt the trunk and declared the elephant akin to a snake, another found the knee and described it as a pillar, and a third found the tusk and announced the elephant as resembling a pipe. It is both telling and irritating that the ineffectual flailing of various colonial and alien intelligence agencies in regards to information surrounding the protoss is so reminiscent of these blind old fools.

This document will be brief and subject to additional editing once our invasion is underway. The protoss have remained determined to remain a mystery to those they have so rudely (if accurately) dismissed as "lesser races," and as a result much of this documentation must remain potentially badly inaccurate conjecture. Before we proceed, I would like to take the time to thank several UED analysts for their support and assistance in generating this conglomeration of their research.

 **Captain Patrick Harris** for his continued research into both colonial and alien media, which has produced a fairly clear political image for the protoss species, even if it was short on hard evidence.

 **Major Danica Espinoza** for the careful recovery and examination of two Umojan Protectorate reports that document the discovery of several downed protoss vessels on Halfax. Were it not for her past association with the SAC, I would have gladly handed this project to her in full.

 **Captain Rebecca Yang** for running several combat simulations between known protoss vessels and ground forces against the Terran Dominion and Turian Hierarchy. While the results of these simulations were disheartening, to say the least, it reinforces the danger of tangling with this creatures.

 **The Protoss: What We Know**

Again, it must be stated that what the United Earth Directorate knows about the protoss stems from incomplete evidence procured from far distant alien and colonial governments. The picture we have put together will be, from the outset, far inferior to theirs. Nevertheless we must persevere, and if there is a silver lining on this cloud, our access to KMC, Dominion, and Protectorate networks has allowed us to put together a broader picture thanks to the combined perspectives.

What is known for complete certain: the protoss are a bipedal race standing between seven and ten feet tall, featuring thick frames and long limbs. They are capable of tremendous psionic feats, and are easily the most technologically and biologically advanced sapient beings within the known galaxy. Their ships are individually more than a match for any other known ship, and the power of their ground forces helped force Council species to quickly adapt to the prospect of extensive surface warfare.

Known military feats of the protoss include destroying an entire planet in the space of a few minutes, killing the zerg intelligence known as the Overmind (which had beforehand withstood no less than half an hour of continuous dreadnought fire courtesy of General Victus) with an act that created an energy spike felt even on Earth, and merging with each other to form beings of pure psionic energy. Each protoss has demonstrated usage of personal plasma shielding (which in addition to holding up just as well as the finest asari kinetic barriers, can also repel DEWs) and the ability to weaponized their psionics, suggesting a score of 9 or above, possibly breaking the scale as we know it.

Their technology has demonstrated instantaneous Warp travel, even when trapped within a planetary body, destructive DEWs such as plasma or photon weapons with unparalleled efficiency, and armor plating that can blunt gauss rifle fire even when the plasma shields are spent. It is baffling to me, then, that the protoss favor close quarters combat with their basic infantry, utilizing energy blades powered by their own psionics. It is terrifying to me, then, that the protoss have continually emerged victorious even with this fixation on an archaic method of warfare.

The protoss' backward nature in regards to societal versus technological development can be witnessed through recordings of their speech patterns. The protoss use antiquated terms of phrase, speak about matters of "honor" and "religion" far more frequently and fervently than any other known species, and are prone to becoming enraged at the barest of slights, perceived or imagined. This has greatly contributed to the galactic perception of the protoss being chaotic beings prone to violent behavior for frequently questionable reasons. As can be easily imagined, this has left them with fairly poor relations with a variety of species.

There also seem to be at least two subsets of protoss, divided both by religion and biology. The first, known as the "High Templar" are the archetypical protoss known and feared by the galaxy at large. The High Templar possess intact nerve cords, speak frequently of the Khala (speculated to be some kind of hive mind,) and are prone to loud and rash actions. From eyewitness reports, they seem to favor weaponry and technology dedicated to eliminating large groups of foes at once in shock and awe style attacks, and their temper is only matched by their raw destructive power.

The latter group, the "Dark Templar" are very poorly documented, but are known to exist. They possess severed nerve cords, are typically soft-spoken, and utilize their psionic energy primarily to render themselves invisible. The original battle plan for Thessia involved sending them in to make short work of the Overmind using nebulous "void energies." While we are still investigating just what the Void might be and whether it relates to Warp travel, it is clear that the Dark Templar's abilities are unquestionably powerful … as well as sinister. Reports indicate that the Dark Templar "Warp blades" are capable of cutting through any material and slaying any creature. While normally I would be inclined to disregard this as blatant hyperbole, no other weapons have been found capable of slaying zerg Cerebrates when they are linked to the Overmind. The Dark Templar specialize in assassination, destroying an enemy's ability to fight through possibly literal decapitation of their command structure.

Fortunately for the galaxy at large, there is evidence of long-lasting conflict between these two groups, possibly religious in nature. I say this is fortunate, because if united, the two halves of the race will become an unstoppable whole: the ferocious destructive capability of the High Templar mixed with the subtle antics of the Dark Templar would create a military engine potentially capable of taking on the known galaxy and winning. We can only hope that the protoss conflict will go on for some time … and that if it does not, that they will have crippled each other by the time of the civil war's end.

 **The Protoss: Technology**

Most of this section will be dedicated to the reports retrieved by Major Espinoza from the Protectorate; while she was unable to secure the majority of the report, what we did receive was extremely enlightening. The rest will be derived from known battlefield data acquired from turian, salarian, and colonial witnesses.

From what we (and the Umojans) can tell, the basis of most protoss engineering is their own psionics. As such, the core of protoss technological development has been related to finding better and more efficient means of channeling their own innate abilities, rather than slowly shoring up shortcomings like a normal sapient's development. The protoss ships (described below) all featured numerous "khaydarin" crystals, of which Umojan Shadowguards quickly determined were heavily reactive to psionic energy. They also found remnants of what appeared to be code comprising incredibly complex AIs imprinted on some of the crystals, suggesting that the feared colossi and reaver machines are indeed operated by fully fledged artificial intelligences.

Of the ships discovered on Halfax, two appeared to be the familiar and well-documented Carrier design (albeit belonging to two separate factions judging by the symbols,) several were of an undocumented design, and the rest appeared to be protoss "scout" ships. I find it unsurprising that the protoss find it necessary to equip their scouting vessels with the means of destroying small moons if they feel the need.

 **Carriers** are large ships that almost seem to resemble zeppelins, dedicated to carrying the much feared **interceptors** into battle. The carriers themselves do not lack for armament, possessing both dedicated orbit-to-surface plasma cannons (witnessed in action through recon satellites on Char) as well as the means to produce an energy beam used for their much vaunted Purification. In ship to ship combat, however, carriers send out their interceptors, dedicated autonomous fighter craft that use short range plasma batteries and their inherent incredible maneuverability to shred enemy ships within seconds. If Mar Sara and Thessia were any indication, this would appear to be the protoss's capital ship.

While capable of melting any turian ship to slag in a matter of minutes, these carriers have two weaknesses. The first is that the autonomous interceptors are linked to the carrier central AI; destroy the ship, and the interceptors spin out of control and self-destruct, greatly lessening the firepower of the protoss fleet. The second is that despite the advanced nature of the protoss, each carrier only seems capable of engaging a single target at any given time. While this target will be left swarmed with interceptors and will likely quickly die, this does mean that if the protoss are critically outnumbered against smaller targets (as was so often the case against the zerg) the carriers will be slowly overwhelmed. They also have difficulty punching through the heavier armor of colonial battlecruisers (and, we must assume, Silaris armor,) although protoss scouts alleviate that shortcoming quite neatly.

 **Scouts** resemble fixed wing terrestrial craft, although streamlined and rounded where our own planes would be angular. Scouts are used either as lone long range recon vessels or escorts for the carriers. Disturbingly, their armament is incredibly heavy, featuring antimatter missiles and some kind of under mounted repeating cannon for ground targets. Scouts have been recorded taking immense amounts of punishment, and their missiles have catastrophic effects on both colonial and Council ships. Umojan reports also indicate that protoss scouts feature only a single cockpit, indicated the need for but a single pilot. Wonderful.

For all their heavy firepower, protoss scouts are rather slow, particularly in comparison to agile eezo based Council ships. Outmaneuvering or outranging these ships is not a difficult affair for non-colonial vessels, although protoss scouts will still require a significant amount of firepower to bring down.

Several previously unknown protoss ships have been designated **Corsairs** by Umojan experts due to their armament resembling known preferences for batarian pirates. Corsairs feature streamlined engines and heavier armor than the protoss scouts, suggesting a craft that is both light and tough. Their weaponry, however, seems dedicated to neutralizing targets through nonlethal methods; Umojan analysis found these ships equipped with "disruption webs" capable of neutralizing both electronic systems and psionic abilities. The basic armament of the ship, however, appears relatively light, a kind of twin-linked neutron pulse gun that, while devastating against lightly armored targets such as zerg fliers or Council frigates and capable of damaging tight clusters of enemies within atmospheric environments, would have immense difficulty with anything beyond that.

One vital find of the Protectorate was a ship that matches the description of several unconfirmed reports of protoss activity since the end of the Great War. The **Void Ray** is a very large craft, roughly two thirds the size of the protoss carrier, and the design and color scheme suggests it is a Dark Templar craft. The ship's wreckage reportedly gave the Umojan Shadowguards a series of headaches, suggesting a vast amount of energy lingering even in the ruins.

This ship appears to be somewhat similar to Council dreadnoughts, in that it is principally a gun with a ship built around it. While no video record of this craft exists, the Umojans postulate with no small amount of certainty that the Void Ray is capable of generating a sustained beam of raw energy that only grows stronger over time through some kind of focused and self-sustaining psionic reaction. From what we can see, this reaction would produce immense strain on the crew from the neural feedback, but would also quickly end up producing more energy than the nukes that destroyed Korhal, focused on a single target. The Dark Templar's philosophy of eliminating critical targets instead of wide swarms of them is manifested in this ship.

The protoss **mothership** is not understood and no wreckage remains of any known craft. All we do know is that they can destroy planets on their own, and are capable of teleporting large numbers of craft to their position at any given time. It is my firm recommendation that should the Expeditionary Armada encounter a protoss mothership, we retreat **immediately.**

 **Protoss Relations**

The protoss announced themselves to the galaxy by first massacring a turian flotilla, then destroying a planet. They followed this up by vanishing for a length of time, and then saving all sapient life from being assimilated by the Overmind. Unsurprisingly, this means that how the protoss are perceived very much depends on whom you ask.

The colonials, naturally, are as divided on relations with the protoss as they are with every other issue. The KMCs want to be left alone, the Dominion wants a clear idea of where the border lies (and also to be left alone), the Protectorate wants to make official contact, and the ITSA refers to the protoss as "nice enough weirdos," suggesting some degree of friendliness. The protoss, for their part, seem willing enough to ignore the colonials so long as they do not interfere with their nebulous objectives. When the colonials do run afoul of the protoss, however, they are terminated with extreme prejudice.

The Council species are also divided on the protoss. The asari feel they owe a great deal to the species and believe, with a good degree of reason, that the protoss could help them understand their own latent psionics and some of the galaxy's ancient history. The salarians regard the protoss with much suspicion, and have scoured much of the galaxy for any surviving wreckage from protoss ships or ancient settlements. The turians rather understandably want an official apology from the protoss for what is still seen as an unprovoked attack on Adrien Victus, and also fear what the elder race will do about their own plans for expanding the Hierarchy.

The protoss reaction to these species is unclear. No formal contact has been established, nor do they appear interested in contact. They have proven happy enough to blow salarian and turian ships out of the sky when threatened, but allied with them just as readily against the zerg. If I had to guess, I would guess that the protoss are also rather suspicious of the Council races, and remain wary of potential exploitation.

The protoss praised the batarians' prowess during the Battle of Thessia, where the SIU's CQC training and overall ruggedness proved a formidable asset against the zerg. As a result, the normally xenophobic race maintains a curiously positive outlook for future relations with the protoss, even if their dream of allying with the protoss and taking down the Citadel remains over-optimistic at best, a childish fantasy at worst.

The quarians and geth represent the only case outside the zerg where the protoss saw fit to intervene. While we can only speculate as to the extent of their relationships, it seems the protoss have found something admire in the nomads and machines. Given the alien nature of the geth and the generally lackluster nature of the quarians, however, I can only guess at what precisely that something is.

The other races lack the appropriate degree of contact with the protoss to have formed an opinion. Races suffering from great calamities such as the elcor and krogan have, at the very least, expressed a desire that the protoss lend them aid. In the case of the elcor, at the very least, I feel that this desire is entirely justified.

 **Threat Level: Black**

The protoss present an unprecedented level of threat, earning a so-far unmatched threat level of black: there is no engagement against this force in which the UED can avoid taking unacceptable casualties, and furthermore, risk the safety of Earth itself in angering these beings. If sufficiently aggravated, the protoss have destroyed planets. They can teleport, from what we can tell, anywhere. Instantaneously. Considering giving battle against these bastards is the height of folly, and the UED should only do so if literally no alternative presents itself.

- **Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, Head of Special Projects Division**

 **-Logged In-**

 **2/14/06**

 **Welcome back, Vice Admiral! Would you like to continue where you left off?**

The protoss have staged a reappearance on the galactic scene, setting up an embassy alongside the geth on the Citadel. They are urging allegiance against this shadowy "Reaper" threat, something I am only now beginning to fully appreciate thanks to this Illusive Man's documentation. Regardless, I cannot agree to unite with these beings while the colonials remain outside the grip of the UED. Once Korhal falls, the Waygates are done, and Umoja is pacified, then we can reconsider. I personally doubt Gerard would agree to any kind of alliance, however, and so I must set a course that results in the protoss's ties with the Citadel being severed.

Right now the greatest weakness of the protoss is their public image. Their arrival was heralded by a terrorist attack from both sides; Dark Templar, so called "Nerazim" assaulted civilians and politicians alike while turians shot up the Citadel Tower. Now I am receiving further reports of unrest from the Citadel, and fingers are being pointed on both sides. If we can find a way of exploiting this mutual distrust, of furthering the divide between the Council as well as possibly between these two sub-species, then we may be able to secure long-term human dominance over the otherwise unassailable protoss.

Of course, all of this must be fully deniable, and none of it will be military in nature. The turians are the finest soldiers in the galaxy, and they could not withstand the protoss. We stand an even lesser chance. It becomes a matter of taking advantage of recent events, framing them in such a fashion that points towards protoss involvement. Of corrupt protoss intentions.

I think I know just where to start.

Also - finally confirmed that protoss do eat ... light. They're tree people. Because mouths are for lesser races.


	11. Volus Threat Analysis

**Major Espinoza,**

 **It is highly unlikely we will encounter these creatures, but they nevertheless require documentation. I have no doubt you will not only meet my expectations, but exceed them.**

 **-Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, Head of Special Projects Division**

 **Political and Military Threat Analysis: Volus**

The volus are a diminutive high-pressure ammonia dwelling race native to Irune. Galactic stereotypes of them include a strong Napoleon complex, a fascination with money, and blatant cowardice when confronted with force. Without having yet met any volus (or aliens at all, for that matter) I cannot in all honesty say how much truth these stereotypes hold.

Volus history runs a bit further back than I expected. They were the third race to discover the Citadel after the asari and salarians, but did not become Council members. The volus had long eschewed military conflict due to a cultural emphasis on swift conflict resolution and a higher value placed on financial strength than physical. It must have been a shock to them to arrive at the Citadel and discover two races, both physically stronger than them, with one excelling in diplomacy and the other in intelligent problem solving. To them, the volus must have appeared ridiculous.

To the volus's credit, they wasted no time wallowing in self-pity and instead worked on creating a unified galactic credit. They succeeded, securing themselves an image of being able bankers. Following the Great War, they were the race responsible for determining Koprulu Sector credit exchange rates, as well as eventually persuading the Terran Dominion and Umojan Protectorate to adopt the galactic standard.

After a few centuries of prosperity but relatively little respect, the volus found themselves unexpectedly useless as the rachni invaded. While their monetary contributions to the war effort were greatly appreciated, the rachni were not fighting for conventional reasons, and the volus became forced for the first time to fight. Casualties escalated very quickly. Good thing the salarians brought the krogan. Post rachni extinction, the volus opted to invest in their own fleets to a greater degree, but became rightly convinced of their own relative weakness. War was not their way. Some workaround would need to be found.

When the Krogan Rebellions rolled around all-too-quickly afterwards, the volus found themselves not only outmatched, but already relatively militarily and financially exhausted from the previous war. Their economy had propped up the Citadel until the counterattack could truly begin, but now the salarians' folly was at their doorstep. Then … here comes the turians.

It's hard to say exactly how the idea of serving under the turians as a protectorate species came about, but what writings I could find at that time suggested an extreme attitude of pessimism and hopelessness within the volus nation at that point. They bemoaned that the galaxy was "eternally at war" and that another conflict would no doubt follow the termination of hostilities with the krogan. The turians, able to hold back the tide and eventually deploy the Genophage, must have looked to the volus as an excellent counterpart to their own species: physically robust, aggressive, but also possessing very little financial prowess and seemingly baffled by the Citadel community at large. Signing up with them to the volus might have felt like a coup; they would indirectly secure themselves a seat at the Council, would be able to maintain a relatively small military, and (reading between the lines here) believed they would be able to shape the turians into a shape they found desirable, using the Hierarchy as a tool with which to secure their interests. Suffice to say, the turians proved far cannier than the volus initially suspected.

The volus nation exists nowadays purely as an extension of the Turian Hierarchy. Turian garrisons dot the ammonia-ridden volus countryside of every world, and turian ships patrol their space continually. The turian councilors throughout history have typically dismissed the concerns and opinions of the volus, seeing them as whiny little money-making machines who had to be prodded to do anything remotely brave. The volus councilor has typically reciprocated this antipathy, although they are in no condition to do much about it.

For the rest of the volus and turians, relations were mixed prior to the Great War. The turians admire the volus's ability to mass produce weaponry and manage their finances, but also widely regard the volus as "useless," and a frequent complaint among citizens is the volus not pulling their weight in patrolling their own space. The volus found the turians stationed within their space well-mannered and behaved, and pirate attacks were viciously repulsed. During the rare police action, however, public opinion tended to turn quickly against their allies, as turians never relent when engaging a perceived enemy. Certain volus clans began protesting turian presence on volus planets, ignoring the enormous risks said turians were taking by stationing themselves willingly in a high pressure ammonia environment.

The Great War has all but shattered trust between the turians and volus. How and why this happened is multifold, although most simply attribute the volus's recent antics to the slowness of the turian response in clearing out infested worlds post war. While this was indeed a significant source of anger for the volus, it goes beyond that.

 **Unsung Heroes: The Ammonia Front**

First, it is worth noting that **the volus bore the brunt of the zerg attacks into turian space, as well as Council space until the invasion of Thessia.** The zerg demonstrated a very visible reluctance in attacking turian worlds; only one turian colony ever reported an attack during the Great War during the very early stages, and the zerg found themselves pushed back very quickly. Turian worlds are heavily fortified and garrisoned, and turians are quick to switch up their tactics and strategy if they find it isn't working. The zerg found themselves routed. The zerg, however, seemed to sense the relationship between turians and volus.

No less than eleven volus worlds came under attack by the zerg during the Great War, including their homeworld of Irune. Turian garrisons found themselves outnumbered and at great risk whenever they engaged the zerg; there are many, many images of the aftermath of battles on volus planets, showing the effects of high pressure environments on turians whose hardsuits were punctured. While turians fared better once the shock wore off and renowned salarian scientist Mordin Solus began broadcasting zerg strategies and weaknesses over the extranet, the effect on morale for many turians was done. The Great War produced more cases of turian PTSD (or, well, the turian equivalent) than any other race, even the asari.

The Ammonia Front has been mostly forgotten by the galaxy outside the volus and turians. The colonials barely know of it, the asari have far bigger events to dwell on, and the salarians only speak of it to sow further dissent within the hearts of the volus. Most of the galaxy thinks back to Thessia and Dekuuna when discussing the Great War, leaving the Confederate struggle and volus's fight for survival unmentioned. Having gone through the footage and reports, however, I am personally of the mind that the Ammonia Front was easily the most unpleasant theater of warfare six years ago, at least until the Overmind manifested.

The volus prop up the Citadel economy. When their worlds were hit, several major banks actually became threatened with extinction – as in their employees were literally being killed or infested down to the last man. While the more major banks had branches on other worlds, the vast majority of executives tended to remain in volus space. While this may seem an odd thing to point out, imagine one day waking up and finding all of your deposited money is gone and your credit card no longer works until either the Hierarchy or the Citadel itself can handle the transfer of your account. Disruptions like that to the daily routine … can easily lend to panic. And in the Great War, it did.

The volus are not suited to combat. They are physically small, weak, and their culture prefers buying off an enemy or hiring someone else to fight rather than retaliate. Their own forces were caught flat-footed by the zerg and many were initially completely routed – it took the turians driving their people back to the front by any means necessary for the volus to rally themselves and contribute.

Even when the volus and turians began to properly resist, the conditions were brutal. A single hardsuit puncture would end the life of any turian soldier, while the volus were forced to face down bestial creatures who equaled or greatly surpassed their size and frequently closed to melee distance. To make it worse, the majority of the battles occurred not in the volus countryside, but within major cities.

The volus specialize in mechanized warfare wherever possible, preferring bomber frigates in particular. The turians supplied the armor and infantry, the volus provided support with limited biotic and technical units, while also providing an outrageous amount of air support. Specifically, air support that nearly always had the phrase "danger close" attached to it.

On the turians' order, the volus became relentless. They carried out intensive bombing campaigns on their own cities in the hopes of taking out more zerg than they did volus, and did not always succeed. Brave volus pilots ran suicide runs over (and sometimes into) zerg hive clusters, diving through thick clouds of zerg fliers in order to strike at the zerg's hive structures and disrupt the endless offensive while combined turian/volus fleets clashed with leviathans in orbit. More explosive tonnage was dropped on Irune than Thessia and Tarsonis combined – an impressive feat given that the turians attacked the surface of Thessia with dreadnoughts.

The turians held. They reinforced and deployed all over volus space and beat back the zerg slowly but steadily, even without the terrans and protoss. And the volus fought alongside them, their pilots accruing massive kill counts while their support specialists recharged turian barriers on the frontlines, keeping them from the deadly atmosphere.

It was here, on these battlefields, that the volus felt that most queer and foreign of sensations after literal centuries of ridicule and casual disrespect. That feeling … was pride.

 **The Separatist Movement**

Nationalistic fervor gripped many volus following the Great War. Even with feral zerg now rampaging across their worlds, the volus did not falter. A flame had been lit inside their hardsuits, and there was nothing within the galaxy that could stifle it. While turians pulled out of volus space to assist with asari evacuations and geth purges of known hive clusters, the volus remained and held the line against the now mindless bugs.

Unfortunately, a series of complications arising from a short-lived and inadvisable attempt by General Desolas to fully free the asari world of Sanves tied up a significant portion of the fleet responsible for defending volus worlds. This left the volus with a mistaken impression that their worlds had been abandoned so the turians could curry favor with the asari. By the time the turians returned, it was to an embattled and bitter volus populace.

When the batarians left the Citadel on the grounds of unfair treatment, it prompted a fresh movement from (now former) volus ambassador Din Korlack. Outraged at the lack of respect offered to non-terran contributing species as well as the asari's removal, Korlack threatened outright secession from the Hierarchy in a moment of passion at the Citadel Tower. Fringe elements (chiefly volus veterans) clung to his statement and began open protest. Many were swiftly imprisoned or gunned down by stationed turians, fanning the flames.

Din Korlack, surprised by his success at inflaming the hearts and minds of his people, and outraged over the continued mistreatment, wrote the Irune Manifesto, stating formally his intention to remove the volus people from the "forceful thumb" of the Turian Hierarchy and officially creating the Irune Ultranationalist Party. The turians, wary of sparking yet further conflict with the people supposedly under their protection, stayed their hands but refused to compromise.

Five years later, little has changed for the better. The Ultranationalists have still failed to persuade the Hierarchy to grant independence, and a vote held on Irune itself proved that a slim majority of volus wish to remain a protectorate species. Din Korlack is no longer an ambassador, and a replacement has not been found that would appease both the Ultranationalists and Loyalists. The Ultranationalists are covertly being assisted by several factions, including the asari, Umojans, and salarians, but their region of space is now heavily patrolled by the increasingly enraged turians. With each fresh protest and terrorist attack, the turians grow more heavy handed and provide the Ultranationalists with a fresh means to incite the populace. With the conflict with the salarians on the horizon, the Hierarchy is confronted with the unpleasant reality that granting the volus the independence they crave might be a wiser move than allowing them to join the salarians and tie up their fleets over their worlds.

It is worth reminding that millions of turians died to defend these worlds in the Great War. Relinquishing control of them would be a sorry blow to turian sovereignty, an insult to many veterans, and indeed threaten the very core of turian imperialism. The turians are in a far more serious and pitiable position than the volus, even as the little bodies pile the streets.

 **Political Relations**

 **Salarian Union:** The salarians actively encourage the volus's dissent, and have even been caught supplying weapons to Ultranationalist members. This has done little to engender feelings of trust in any of the involved parties. While the volus are aware that the salarians are using them for their own ends, freedom is too tantalizing. The real question is what the salarian/volus relationship will develop into once and if the volus achieve independence.

 **ITSA:** The volus are openly envious of the ITSA's status as an independent terran faction that should by all rights be under Mengsk's control, and often cite their existence as reason enough for their own dream of a volus nation to come to pass. The ITSA, on the other hand, are hard-pressed to keep track of all the aliens running around, and have little time or resources to spare the volus. They are sympathetic to the Ultranationalist cause, however.

 **Elcor Remnants:** The elcor and volus have traditionally been close, if only because they are usually lumped together as "minor Council races." The elcor are sympathetic to the volus's plight, but categorically reject the Ultranationalist Party's violence, and slap down any ploy made by them to generate pity. The elcor lost far more than the volus did during the Great War.

 **Krogan:** The krogan approve of anyone killing any turian for any reason. Krogan mercenaries are also commonly hired by Ultranationalists as bodyguards and hitmen.

 **Quarian Refugees:** The quarians fled for the Koprulu Sector before the Ultranationalist movement was created. Historically, however, there has usually been mutual disdain between the two races.

 **Geth Consensus:** Given the history of the geth and typical volus antipathy towards the quarians, I am inclined to believe that the two races might find some common ground. However, there is little to no recorded political interaction, and anticipating the opinions and actions of machines is next to impossible.

 **Threat Level: Green**

The volus are more dangerous than they seem, and the Great War proved that when pressed into a corner, they are ultimately as courageous and vicious as any other race. That being said, their internal political divisions between Loyalists and Ultranationalists, as well as their ongoing conflict with the Hierarchy, means that they pose little threat to anyone save the birds.

It seems likely that when the salarians fire the first shots, the volus will rise up against their masters at great cost to themselves and the Hierarchy. It is at this time that the Directorate must decide whether to take a side and, if so, whom.

* * *

 **Geth next, maybe? (Only krogan, salarians, ITSA, geth, elcor, and quarians left. Let me know which one interests you.)**


	12. Geth Threat Analysis

**Dr. Henwick – the Geth Consensus remains an enigma even to their creators. Nevertheless, we must process what information we have and turn it into a functional overview of their military and relations. Do not be afraid to admit ignorance – even the quarian peoples have proven themselves unable to anticipate the actions of these machines.**

 **-Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, Head of Special Projects Division**

 **Political and Military Threat Analysis: Geth Consensus**

 **History**

In retrospect, one of the more shocking events of the Great War was the geth's emergence from forced isolation and obscurity to aid Council races in combatting the zerg threat. Such an action indicates a hitherto undocumented ethical system among the machines, who when pressed for answers regarding their sudden decision, would haltingly call it "the right thing to do."

The geth are … well, what are they? It does not seem fitting to call them simple machines, or bits of code inhabiting hunks of metal shaped by their own drive for increased efficiency. Nor does it seem accurate to afford them the status of true sapience – when networked together, the geth become increasingly intelligent and indeed genuinely unpredictable, but alone they are little more than awkward strings of data, bereft of purpose or genius.

Let's start at the beginning. The geth are Virtual Intelligences (VIs) created by the quarian people as a means of performing all stripes of manual labor, bettering the quarian people as a whole. (While I am no Luddite, it is worth noting that the difference in the quarian mindset to our own – more automation means less jobs, but to these collectivists, it just freed up certain sections of their population from menial or dangerous work. No one starved because of the geth.)

While the quarians adhered (in word if not spirit) the Citadel's laws regarding buildings artificial intelligences, they still noticed a disturbing trend in the development of these supposedly simple machines. Geth began requesting explanations regarding the "importance" of their designations, effectively asking if their name (a simple series of numbers and letters corresponding to model and time of manufacture) had meaning. Geth began to self-modify without quarian input, to better accomplish the tasks set before them. Finally and most damningly, certain geth units began to examine quarian scripture and asked the same question on multiple occasions: "Does this unit have a soul?"

I think it would take a quarian to fully explain why they reacted as they did. To me, at least, their behavior spoke of a gross overestimation of the geth's development and capabilities. The quarians sought a total galactic shutdown of all geth on Rannoch and the quarian colonies. The geth, now possessing rudimentary reasoning and self-preservation, refused to shut down, instead questioning the necessity of the action when, from their perspective, all work was still being completed efficiently. The quarians issued another shutdown command and began cracking down on "rogue" geth units, opening fire on what units did not comply.

Again, I am not entirely certain why the quarians reacted as they did. I suspect it may be linked to some of this quarian scripture the geth themselves had referenced, but I am uncertain. At any rate, this is how the Geth Revolution began, an era of time largely lost to the galaxy at large; only the geth and quarians know precisely what happened and the latter are largely biased, while the former seem to dislike talking about it. The end result of this conflict was as simple as it was horrific: after about thirty years of conflict, less than 1% of the quarian species remained, and the geth now fully occupied former quarian space. An impressive feat, given that beforehand, the geth did not possess any military functions.

From here, things become dark. The quarians are rightly stripped of their Council status for inadvertently creating an apparently hostile race of machines and are forced into exile. The geth, on the other hand, destroy any ships stupid enough to enter their space and seem to resign themselves to isolationism. Given that the galaxy at large looked to them with fear and offered nothing the geth would have wanted, this honestly makes sense.

 **The Great War: Re-emergence**

For centuries, the geth remained dormant. The only concrete intel the Council aliens could be bothered to gather indicated that the geth were still occupying quarian worlds, and had constructed megastructures in orbit of nearly all of them. Probes also demonstrated that the geth had elected to build fleets rivaling the turians in firepower, the asari in size, and the salarians in complexity. Fortunately for the Council, the geth still remained in isolation.

When the zerg began their initial rush into Council space, they found themselves unexpectedly (and I mean _unexpectedly_ , there was no indication whatsoever that the geth would ever leave their space) countered by geth fleets. The battle for Hesthok ended in the first ever defeat of a widespread zerg force thanks to the geth's adaptability, equal numbers, and liberal usage of orbital bombardment. As the zerg made inroads into Council space, the geth followed them, sending a brief message to the Citadel itself to not open fire on them.

For the duration of the war, the geth mostly targeted either badly hit but strategically valuable worlds such as Noveria, or "empty" worlds the zerg used to breed massive numbers of warriors with otherwise little concern of intervention. It was a relatively rare occasion for the geth to actively work alongside Council ground forces or fleets, but their impact on the conflict was nevertheless decisive – while the turians held the line on the Ammonia Front and the salarians scrambled to develop and deploy anti-zerg weaponry, the geth slowly carved a path through the freshly formed hive worlds and pressed for Therum.

Whether they would have made it or not (and how they would have dealt with the now vanished Cerebrate) must remain a historic mystery. The quarians, always vengeful and rarely sensible, opted to take advantage of the geth's lowered numbers around Rannoch and made a mad push for their former homeworld. The geth, having sent forth the vast majority of their fleets to _save the galaxy_ , found themselves caught flat-footed. The quarians, temporarily at an advantage due to superior numbers and simple zealotry, managed to push the geth fleets back to Rannoch itself.

That was a mistake. That was a mistake on many levels.

During their brief existence, the geth have only ever fought two foes: the quarians and the zerg. They have shown no mercy to either. When the geth regrouped and retaliated over Rannoch, even pulling back their fleet over Heshtok at the time to engage the quarians, I believe it was with the intent to finally destroy their creators once and for all. They are, after all, beings of logic: the quarians had attacked them every time they were weak, with the goal of exterminating them. It was time to return the favor.

There is very little available footage of the battle over Rannoch, but examination by asari and salarian teams of the wreckage surrounding the planet afterwards suggests that at least 20% of the surviving Migrant Fleet was destroyed. One fifth of an entire species. At the same time, the geth seemed to have taken grievous casualties – the fabulous structures previously in orbit over the world had all been destroyed, and geth debris freely mixed with the remnants of the quarians' folly.

Of the protoss, the race that had broken up the fight, there was no sign. The quarians fled to the Koprulu Sector and the geth remained, but as to the protoss's actions and presence … nothing visible remained.

The geth remained with the Council for a time, but seemingly only to extol at length the threat presented by the nebulous "Reapers," and how the galaxy needed to prepare for the next massive conflict. Needless to say, no one was keen on paying much attention to the machines as they recovered from the zerg's onslaught, and the geth eventually fled back to the Perseus Veil to languish in obscurity and build up their numbers.

What they have done other than that is anyone's guess. Given the confirmed presence of protoss within their borders and their supposed intent to return to the Citadel, I would be willing to guess that they have been collaborating with the elder beings to combat this "Reaper" threat.

 **Geth Military**

The geth took the lesson of their origin to heart; all organics should be perceived as most likely hostile, and thus all geth within platforms must be armed for combat. Since the Geth Revolution there have been no reported non-combat platforms, and all ships have been military. The geth mostly exist as code – they use a physical form only when it is necessary to interact with the galaxy. As the galaxy is a rather hostile place to the geth, it makes sense that they use bodies that can handle firearms and drop from orbit.

The geth do not require food, warmth, or shelter. The geth do not feel fear and will employ mercy only if it is logical to do so. They were a perfect match for the zerg in the Great War, and if it were not for the folly of the quarians I suspect they would have been able to join in on the final push to the Overmind and change the outcome of the battle for the better.

Geth military doctrine is simple. Offer outrageous firepower in orbit and against enemy ships, deploy from orbit to strategically valuable drop zones, and continually assault the enemy with massive cyberattacks courtesy of all geth programs both physically and non-physically present. Unfortunately for the geth, the zerg lacked any cyber avenue to attack, and the quarians are just as, if not more so, gifted at cyberwarfare. In both cases, they had to resort to simply matching their numbers and outmatching their inherent viciousness.

The geth combat doctrine can most closely be compared to the turians. They consider orbital superiority to be key, and will not hesitate to bomb the enemy down to individual fire teams if ground forces are having trouble. They will attack in overwhelming numbers both on the ground and in orbit, and if forced to retreat, will do so in a calculated fashion, deploying mines and preparing regular ambushes.

Geth ground forces are a mix of heavier armor units such as primes and armatures, and basic geth infantry. The larger and heavier units tend to house higher numbers of geth programs, giving other nearby programs a boost in efficiency and intelligence. This makes such larger platforms a valuable target on the battlefield, but they are typically surrounded by high numbers of other geth and are well-armed and armored besides.

Geth also frequently utilize automated turrets and simple flying attack drones, meaning that whether attacking their position or defending a position from them, the geth will have an inherent advantage. The turrets typically lay down long range suppressing fire while other geth forces deploy from orbit to reinforce the position, while the drones approach from the air and flank hostile forces.

Geth weaponry is pulse based. It typically has a devastating effect on kinetic barriers and simple flesh, but has a difficult time penetrating armor. Primes and armatures utilize massive pulse cannons to make up for this, and there is certain evidence suggesting the presence of geth snipers to eliminate particularly troublesome armored infantry. The above is likely to be rendered irrelevant, however, if the geth have a clear shot over orbit.

Geth ships require no life support, food supplies, or even containment over their eezo cores. This means that the insides of geth ships are hellish environments alternately bone-chillingly cold or incredibly hot, devoid of gravity. This also means that the geth have doubled up on barriers, guns, and redundant systems. Geth dreadnoughts, speared by leviathans and being pulled apart, have continued to fire into the beast even as hull integrity approached zero.

Geth have a rough equivalency of dreadnoughts with the turians, but seem to prefer mass producing cruisers for overall efficiency; over 98% of known geth ships have been multipurpose cruisers capable of engaging enemy ships, bombarding planet surfaces, and delivering geth platforms to the surface. The geth value versatility overall.

As a rule, geth ships can be assumed to be tougher, faster, and more heavily armed than any non-protoss organic equivalent (including, I must grudgingly concede, the UED) and their ground troops should be approached with a good deal of caution. While Major Espinoza might go starry-eyed over the bravery of the pathetic mole people on the Ammonia Front, I would credit the geth as being the backbone of Council forces during the Great War.

 **Political Relations**

 **Salarian Union:** The salarians are just about the only other species that could conceivably match or overcome the geth in the cyberwarfare theater, but that is about it for similarity. The salarians have curiously never expressed much interest in the geth, and the geth only seem vaguely aware of the salarians. They worked together only a little during the Great War, and the salarians did not try to stop the geth from exiting the Council. They would seem to be largely neutral towards one another.

 **ITSA:** Vast distance and little interest in one another.

 **Elcor:** See above.

 **Quarian Refugees:** On two separate occasions, these two have attempted to exterminate one another. In both cases, the geth were considerably more successful. The current political situation should be simple … but it involves the protoss. Can either side finally give in to their better impulses?

The quarians have always considered themselves victims, and no doubt that trend has continued. The protoss have likely provided them with safe haven, perhaps even a world of their own, but I find it unlikely that the quarians are satisfied with this arrangement, perhaps even blatantly ungrateful. Perhaps the protoss are attempting to referee this little genocidal pissing match between the two…? I find that foolish of them. The quarians are determined to have their vengeance or die trying. I say, let the consequences play out.

Part of me also perhaps over-optimistically hopes that the quarians have simply wiped themselves out since the Great War, and these scattered Pilgrimages are only desperate survivors … but as I said, over-optimistic.

 **Threat Level: Red**

The geth have nothing to offer us except destruction. They stepped in against the zerg only because the scale of the threat could not be ignored. We are not on the same scale as the zerg, at least, not in terms of raw destruction and vile intent. The geth should leave us alone provided we allow them the same courtesy. Of all the species traversing the stars, they alone, I think, can be afforded a true amount of respect and a true offer of friendship from the UED. It is only expedient.

…

 **Admiral Hackett,**

 **I was inspecting certain Dominion extranet sites to survey the public galactic response to the Expeditionary Armada's arrival … and I found this.**

 **It appears genuine. For the love of God, work more quickly and get those boys back home. We're running out of time.**

 **-Alfonzo Suarez**

 **Trace found. Establishing link.**

Terran homeworld, issuing greetings on behalf of Geth Consensus and Daelaam Protectorate. This is a united greeting from Geth Consensus.

Aware of recent United Earth Directorate incursion into Terran Dominion space. Question purpose, question intent. Why wage war when so little to gain? Such a vast empire seems unlikely.

Will offer warning and two courses of action.

Unite terran people under new banner. Reapers offer considerable threat, and a single terran front is vastly superior to multiple separate fronts. Character of new government and long-term intent of UED irrelevant. Forge an empire for betterment of galaxy.

Or:

Retreat to Earth and wait out the coming storm. Terrans demonstrate discrepancy in actions and behavior. No reliance on pre-existing Precursor technology. Haphazard development and frequent inter-species conflict uncharacteristic of other developed spacefaring races. If Armada retreats to Earth, strong possibility of Earth being overlooked. No element zero, no mass relays, almost no galactic imprint. Wait out the current cycle and become guardians of the next one.

All other paths will lead to destruction. Will not tolerate hostilities against Geth Consensus, protoss, or creators. Will not tolerate deliberate escalation of current Council tensions. We communicate homeworld to homeworld in hopes of reinforcing seriousness of this communication. Act, and the geth shall answer.

Unable to bypass Expeditionary Armada AI to deliver message. Request immediate delivery to Admiral Gerard DuGalle to temper current aggression. Awaiting response.

 **Suarez,**

 **Tell them we're working on option 2. Forwarding this to Bolivar. Keep calm and best of luck.**

 **-Admiral Hackett**

* * *

 **A/N: Quarians next, as requested. Then salarians, ITSA, and elcor. Almost done! (With this section, at least.)**


	13. Minor Races: Quarians, Elcor, Krogan

**We're just mopping up at this point. Let's just divvy up the leftovers; the remaining races are so close to extinction that we could probably finish them off wholesale, if we really cared to. So, not much needs doing.**

 **-Captain Rebecca Yang**

 **Minor Races**

 **All Threat Levels: Green**

 **Quarian Refugees**

 **Overview**

These people are currently mostly famous on Earth for having the brilliant idea to attack one of the foremost resistors of the zerg invasion, earning them the undying contempt and hatred from most of the galaxy. I'm not sure the quarians noticed, however, as the galaxy was already pretty contemptuous to begin with.

The quarians are a nomadic dextro-amino based race primarily distinctive for their environment suits, without which they would succumb to various allergic reactions within about a day. Like the volus, they are confined within these suits whenever dealing with other species. Unlike the volus, apparently the quarians are also confined within these suits when at home, barring certain important ceremonies such as the birth of children.

Before becoming widely reviled for pushing for their homeworld, the quarians were most famous for their creation of the geth, formerly unintelligent machines that gradually formed a consciousness and a set of ethics. The quarian people, for some religious reason I do not and cannot be bothered to understand, took umbrage with the geth's development and attempted to wipe them out. The geth, ever resourceful, took it upon themselves to further evolve and develop combat capability, and then proceeded to nearly completely wipe out the quarian race. All that remains of this near-extinct people is the Migrant Fleet, which was estimated to be seventeen million quarians before the Great War, and somewhere between twelve and thirteen million afterwards.

The quarians, as previously mentioned, attacked their former geth slaves during the Great War in a selfish attempt to reclaim their homeworld. After a briefly devastating offensive, the two powers fought each other to a bloody standstill over the world of Rannoch, while the Zerg Overmind reigned supreme on Thessia.

Once the Overmind was slain, the protoss broke up the fighting over Rannoch with little difficulty. The Migrant Fleet pushed for Relay 118 and, after a brief shouting match with the turians stationed there, vanished into the Koprulu Sector. Their Migrant Fleet has not been seen since, but quarian pilgrims occasionally crop up throughout space.

 **Military**

On the one hand, it is easy to respect the quarians' potential. Even after the Great War, it is estimated that they own close to 40,000 ships, and the majority of them feature some kind of mounted weaponry, even their liveships (massive vessels that serve as gardens for the fleet.) Turian General Desolas has repeatedly gone on record voicing his concern over not knowing just where the hell so many ships could have gone, and stated that only a fool would not care about the quarians vanishing. According to him, while the fighting capability of the fleet is not what you might expect (much of the weaponry and ships themselves are very much second rate, even accounting for the rigorous maintenance and technological prowess of the quarians) the sheer number of vessels, experienced pilots, and seasoned mechanics, means that the quarians could grant a terrific amount of assistance through emergency evacuation efforts or strengthening the supply lines of any nation willing to harbor them.

The Migrant Fleet consists of four smaller fleets. The Patrol Fleet handles internal security concerns and constantly screens their people's movements. Reports indicate that they mostly consist of fighters and frigates, and that their fighting capability is mostly dependent on the actions of their commanding admiral, as well as the assistance of the Heavy Fleet.

The Heavy Fleet is the military; all ships within this fleet are combat capable. Here is the cream of the quarian crop, the only line of defense worth worrying about. Heavy Fleet consists of fighters, cruisers, and heavy cruisers, and has traditionally proven itself to be an extremely aggressive but capable force. It is widely believed that the bulk of geth casualties over Rannoch were inflicted by Heavy Fleet and its rabid admiral, Han'Gerrel.

The Civilian Fleet are the ships crewed by quarians not ostensibly part of the quarian military. Despite supposedly being non-combatants, the Civilian Fleet still did the bulk of the dying over Rannoch, where they served as little more than cannon fodder while the Patrol and Heavy Fleets did most of the damage. What the Civilian Fleet lacks in armament it at least makes up for in numbers and technological prowess – the salarians have reportedly been rather frustrated over Migrant Fleet cybersecurity in the past, mostly attributed to the civilians of the fleet.

A major shortcoming of the Civilian Fleet in battle is that every loss they take is disproportionately harmful to their usefulness as a whole. The ships and crew were not intended for combat, but instead far more vital affairs such as ship maintenance and feeding the Fleet proper … the continued survival of the quarian species. Nowhere else can this madness be more readily witnessed than the quarians' liveships, which they turned into dreadnoughts. The loss of even one could have spelled starvation for the quarian people, and the geth were highly incentivized to target these weaponized gardens. (Interestingly, however, they destroyed none of them. I do not recommend following their "honorable" example; waste these psychopaths if they cross us.)

Finally, there is the Special Projects Fleet, which is little more than a collection of mad scientists urging the leadership to attack the geth again.

Quarians do possess ground forces, but they are minimal. They do not have the space and resources to field armor or large numbers of basic infantry, instead relying on special forces to accomplish groundside objectives. Their Migrant Fleet Marines are apparently rather respected, but are as vulnerable as any other quarian to infection given a suit puncture. While a quarian will not keel over immediately from an infection, the longterm effects of having to funnel antibiotics and other medical supplies to wounded marines is frankly untenable.

A quick disclaimer: a great deal of this information is based off research from before the Great War. For all we know, the quarians dismantled their fleet and settled on some distant garden world to pop out as many suited little babies as possible. We don't know enough to rule it out.

For now at least, reports indicate that either the protoss are unwilling to let the quarians wander, or the quarians themselves are simply content to stay put. For the sake of their people's continued existence, let's hope this state of affairs continues. If we _do_ encounter quarians, it might be best not to antagonize them, if for no other reason that doing so will almost certainly get the attention of the protoss.

…

 **I will take the elcor, what little there is to talk about at any rate. I have found a surprising amount to admire in these peoples.**

 **-Major Danica Espinoza**

 **Elcor Remnants**

 **Overview**

The elcor stand out from most of the other races, as quadruped beings who speak only through subtle motions and facial expressions are wont to do. The elcor are also noteworthy for being heavyworlders – their homeworld of Dekuuna features an impressive 4 gs, forcing significant deviations in physiology and society among the elcor compared to the galaxy at large.

Long known for being peaceful and friendly beings, the elcor are client races of the Council, and have shown very little interest in advancing beyond that. As their homeworld of Dekuuna overflowed with natural resources and the elcor were never very prone to moving far from home, one could easily argue that the elcor had more to lose than gain in pursuing a true Council membership, and all the work that would have entailed. As such, prior to the Great War, the elcor possessed only a very small military and engaged in only the most perfunctory of trade relationships with other Council races.

What happened to them can be considered nothing other than a tragedy. The elcor – physically strong and belonging to a homeworld of bountiful resources – were a natural target for the zerg. Dekuuna had never been a heavily defended homeworld, as the elcor were notoriously vicious when it came to defending themselves from pirate raids, and no one bore them any real grudges. The zerg only experienced light resistance as they entered the system and headed for Dekuuna, and the elcor had no one they could immediately turn to. Dekuuna swiftly found itself under siege.

The fall of the planet was as swift as it was shocking. Elcor ground forces brought heavy weapons and complex VI targeting systems to bear, inflicting tremendous casualties on the heavier zerg strains, but the creatures refused to engage the elcor military directly. Every time the elcor struck out against a hive structure or attacking zerg force, the zerg would scatter, burrowing all over or instead attacking nearby settlements. Where their forces did meet in open combat, however, the elcor notably fared better than any other Council race's. Unfortunately, this did not prove to matter.

The zerg, apparently unhindered by the extreme gravity, spread unchecked. The massive untapped reserves of rich metals, dense forests, and bountiful grasslands led to a positive explosion of the invading zerg population, exacerbating an already severe infestation. By the time the elcor elected (no doubt with great remorse) to start widespread orbital bombardment and firebombing on their own ecosystems and cities, it was much too late. The voices of the much feared dekuunalisk reverberated across their countryside, and much of the planet was now covered in creep. After conducting a brief and badly incomplete evacuation of their three still-standing major cities, the elcor flotilla abandoned their planet, which is still considered part of the Zerg Exclusion Zone. As a small silver lining, the few colonies the elcor possessed were successfully fully evacuated by the elcor flotilla, Asari Seventh Fleet, and Salarian Fourth Fleet.

Resettling the elcor became a pressing issue following the Great War. The asari were facing their own severe problems, the turians lacked a suitable environment, and the elcor and salarians had long possessed a difficult relationship due to differences of mindset and communication. Fortunately for the elcor, the ITSA had made formal contact with Councilor Donnel Udina and accepted him as their representative. They were quite willing to accept the elcor on Eden Prime, citing and I quote, "Loadsa space."

Since then, the elcor have remained technically separate from the ITSA, but nevertheless occupying the same territory. The elcor's naturally laid back and helpful nature has made them widely beloved by the colonials, and the elcor are in turn eternally grateful for the colonial's assistance in their hour of need.

 **Elcor Military**

"I hear plenty of folks tell jokes about them horse fucks, but the minute they hear the opfor's got a few elcor with 'em, you won't hear nobody laughin'." –General Edmund Duke

As the good colonial notes, the elcor are often the butt of jokes, but their soldiers are both feared and respected. The elcor have always been immensely protective of their territory, and invading batarian pirates not only found themselves quickly and brutally repulsed, but usually subject to swift retaliation strikes by enraged elcor, deniable action be damned. The fall of their homeworld and near extinction of their species has only escalated these protective tendencies, and the newest generation of elcor could even be described as warlike.

The current crop of elcor "infantry" utilize the enormous and heavily armed CMC-4g suits, which typically feature back mounted chainguns or railguns, as well as side mounted guided missile launchers and grenade launchers. The scale of these weapons was massive even before the elcor employed CMC suits; now the common elcor soldier fields weaponry that, according again to General Duke, could seriously threaten overhead battlecruisers that fail to take these aliens seriously.

The elcor flotilla, on the other hand, only consists of a few dozen frigates and about a dozen heavy cruisers. That being said, these ships were designed and built by beings used to 4 gs; the armor plating on these ships is widely noted to be well above the norm, and the always cautious elcor have filled them to the brim with redundant systems. While their weaponry and barriers are nothing to write home about, elcor ships are notoriously durable and will not stop fighting until the ship fully breaks apart … which usually requires dreadnoughts, if the opposing force does not want to waste a sizable amount of time and lives to take them down.

It is worth noting that in recent years, the ITSA/elcor relationship has encouraged the elcor to adopt colonial weaponry and become steadily more aggressive. This is a worrying trend, given that only the elcor's laid back nature held them back from building a sizable military, and now the only limiting factor is their low numbers and birth rate. And that won't be a problem forever.

…

 **Alright boys and girls, Harris here. Let's see, I'm left with … oh, for fuck's sake.**

 **-Captain Patrick Harris**

 **The Krogan**

The krogan are a bunch of psychotic turtle people who wander the galaxy headbutting things and bemoaning their sexual impotence. They can be found anywhere there is a fight to be had, meaning that in recent years the galaxy's been thick with these scrappy bastards.

The krogan are native to Tuchanka, a nuclear wasteland still somehow slightly more inhabitable than New Jersey, populated by a variety of fun creatures such as thresher maws, varren, and other angry krogan. Oh yeah, and the infested versions of those things; while the planet does not feature infestation on the scale of Thessia or Dekuuna, there is still a sizable presence of bugs on the planet, thanks to Dr. Okeer.

The krogan were first discovered by the salarians who, after a brief inquiry, found that the beings had bombed themselves back into the Stone Age after the discovery of nuclear weaponry. Currently besieged by the rachni (who were ancient invading space bugs before it was cool,) the salarians took one look at the terminally angry, heavily armored, explosively reproducing krogan and thought, "You know, it would be really great if these things were like, _everywhere._ "

After uplifting the race that treated every day unfulfilled unless they had killed something, the salarians politely requested that the krogan pull a reverse invasion on the rachni by clogging the bugs' nests with the millions of babies they were popping out daily. Never missing out a chance to cause another intelligent being pain, the krogan found themselves delighted to be the cornerstone of a new galactic strategy: throw krogan at the problem until the problem is the krogan.

Naturally it worked. The rachni went extinct shortly after the krogan discovered them to be edible, and then the galaxy found itself at peace. Except, you know, now there were starfaring psychopaths wandering about with no one to fight. The krogan's birthrate, naturally kept in check by the hellish environment that was their homeworld, now really exploded. The krogan spread from world to world, evidently expending the surplus energy usually spent making things explode on copulating with the fury of a thousand rabbits drunk on the extract of Spanish Fly.

Finally, the krogan grew bored and decided to take over an already inhabited asari planet, pounding their chest and roaring manfully at the Council to take the planet back, if they were hard enough. The asari and salarians, having naturally paid close attention to what the krogans were doing, rolled their eyes and destroyed most of the krogan infrastructure in a single stroke, having placed agents all over krogan space. The sharktoads found themselves momentarily confused and on the back foot, but that did not last long. So begins the Krogan Rebellions!

The salarians, asari, volus, and elcor fought hard against the krogan, but to no great effect. The krogans' insane birth rate and natural belligerence meant there was no depopulating them, no demoralizing them. Their insane physical strength and endurance also meant that their infrastructure could take a pounding and the krogan would press onward, giving precisely zero shits about the Council's "strategy."

The Council was momentarily saved by the emergence of the Turian Hierarchy, who took one look at the state of the galaxy and shook their heads in dismay before plunging onwards. The birds and turtles fought for a time, but even the order and discipline of the turians faltered before the raw power of the cackling krogan. So the turians chopped their balls off.

No, seriously. The salarians developed a sterility plague that would leave only 1/1000 krogan children viable, but waffled on whether such a permanent solution was ethical. The turians, of course, promptly turned around, asked, "Are you shitting me?" and dumped this plague into the atmosphere and water source of every krogan world they could reach. From there, it became a matter of holding out for a few decades, shooting every krogan they could see, until they finally thinned out.

It worked. The krogans, withered testicles receding into their bodies, eventually admitted surrender and undying hatred for the turians. The turians, taking it in stride, had to be held back from exterminating the krogans entirely by the rest of the Council, who still remained uncertain that what they had done was the right thing.

Now, fast-forwards a thousand years later, and the krogan are circling the drain. Their women are all depressed because their babies keep dying, the men leave the homeworld and fight for other species because their women are so depressed, and the few sensible krogan that wanted to maybe reform their society in the hopes of having the plague taken away uniformly drink themselves into a stupor.

 **Krogan Military**

Ha, what military? What government? Tuchanka is a radioactive hellhole, and the krogan are literally split into tribes a la fucking Mad Max. I've heard that some of them even "specialize" in driving around huge tanks called tomkah, another hunts with varren, and a third worship a giant unexploded nuclear bomb known as "The One." It's a mess.

The Krogan DMZ is known as the DMZ for a reason. These fucknuts aren't allowed to build ships, and the official krogan "military," such as it is, consists primarily of males considered undesirable by the female tribes, effectively castrating their chances. No real self-respecting krogan would willingly serve in it.

So don't worry about facing down krogan ships or fighting krogan soldiers. DO, however, worry about facing krogan mercenaries. The krogan feature numerous redundant organs, and even a redundant nervous system, which causes them to go berserk as it reboots. Fighting is best summed up as "don't," but you usually won't get a choice.

Krogan favor shotguns, but truly relish melee combat. If they get close, they'll try to ram their enemy with their massive skulls, inflicting a staggering amount of punishment. If they can't get close, they'll stick to their boomsticks and explosives – anything loud and obnoxious, essentially. But don't make the mistake of thinking krogan are slow; they move at insane speeds when they want to, and it takes quite a bit of pepper to get them to fall over. It is fortunate that outside of Tuchanka, it is relatively rare to have to fight more than one.

Lately, CMC armor has also proven extremely popular with the sharktoads, and the krogan are apparently very fond of gauss weaponry. So yeah. Expect that as well. If the krogans have a weakness at least, I guess it would be fire. Prevents their flesh from healing quickly and toasts their redundant systems. So if you really have to fight these fuckers, bring firebats. Or just bomb them from orbit – they're not allowed ships after all.

…

 **Major Espinoza, Captain Yang, Captain Harris,**

 **Where you see belligerent sharktoads as a problem, I only see an opportunity. Thank you for the entertainment at the very least – the Koprulu Sector looms, and I grow anxious. I shall remember your words of … wisdom … as we press onwards. It has been a pleasure working with you all. I wish you the best.**

 **Do not be afraid to suffer. The future awaits us!**

 **-Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, Head of Special Projects Division**

* * *

 **A/N: I couldn't justify giving these guys their own section from the UED perspective, sadly. That does not mean they won't play a major role in the events to come.**

 **Only the ITSA and salarians left. Then ... I guess we'll look at the Expeditionary Armada itself. Cheers.**


	14. SALARIAN INGENUITY

**Salarian Union: Political and Threat Analysis**

 **History and Culture**

Despite being one of the two first Council members and having shaped both galactic history and the fate of several major species, the Salarian Union is only rarely thought of as being one of the faces of the Council, and their military is often undersold even by the salarians themselves. This suits the salarians just fine, as foes underestimating them in a moment of conflict traditionally leads to lopsided exchanges in their favor. Something to bear in mind while reading this report.

The salarians are a race of bipedal amphibians notable for their incredibly powerful metabolism and problem solving skills. They are haploid-diploid egg layers, but are fortunately rather selective and restrained in their breeding practices (well, until the post-Great War.) Fertilized eggs becomes females, unfertilized eggs become males. Females are prized far more than males, and traditionally 90% of all salarian eggs go unfertilized, meaning males make up the majority of the salarian race.

While the salarians only live a total of forty years on average, the average salarian only sleeps an hour a day, meaning they can accomplish just as much (if not more) than their longer-lived contemporaries. This also means that salarian societies, technologies, and policies are subject to swift, sometimes violent change as each generation replaces the last with dizzying speed. In the last six years in particular, the Salarian Union has experienced a great deal of upheaval.

The Salarian Union is the principal government of the salarians, and has remained so for over a thousand years. Considering the short-lived and naturally ambitious nature of the salarians, this is a feat far greater than it might initially seem, especially in light of the sometimes volatile relationships between salarian dynasties.

The Union consists of about 85% of all major salarian families, all of which are constantly vying with one another for power, be it another promising male accepted into STG, breeding contracts with their betters, or the patent for the newest egg hatchery technology. Each family wields a considerable amount of power within the Union, to the degree that any of them, if unopposed, could likely topple the standing federal government … but they would never go unopposed.

The salarians thrive on conflict and creative problem solving, perhaps to an unhealthy degree. While they find inter-species violence distasteful (indeed, it is considered the mark of a "lesser" family to resort to anything so crude, desperate, and uncreative as armed conflict) they find great pleasure in bankrupting one another, screwing each other (sometimes literally) out of breeding contracts, or casually leaking incriminating documents to the dalatrass that reveal involvement with the Batarian Hegemony or someone else equally unpleasant.

While the Salarian Union's natural state of being is that of constant flux (at least to outsiders,) the salarians have shown a remarkable resiliency when it has historically come to matters of open war. Despite whatever the families might say about one another, they are at least children of Sur'Kesh. Other species meddling in their affairs are typically casually backhanded away by a flurry of leaked documents, videos, and "secret" weapons projects that the lizards had kept on hand just in case of a rainy day such as this … unless of course the race in question was undeterred by threats of this nature.

The first race to truly test the Salarian Union was the rachni. Initially, the salarians sought to probe for any weakness of technology, only to find that the rachni's simplistic but effective ships were immune to the kind of cyberwarfare the salarians had practiced against the asari and each other. This led to brief controversy as the lesser, "thuggish" families had their day, fielding simple cruisers, dreadnoughts, and marines against the insectoid menace. To the credit of these oft-dismissed soldiers, they held the line alongside the asari with admirable persistence, from what the records say. Unfortunately, it can perhaps be slightly attributed to this slight, this solitary salarian situation in which brawn overruled brain, leading to the salarians' first major miscalculation in their history.

They found the krogan, brutish and primitive, wandering about the radioactive rubbish heap called Tuchanka. Observing the staggering birth rate and natural ruggedness of this hardy people, the salarians opted to uplift them in an attempt to use them as a backbone in their war effort against the rachni. To be fair to the salarians, this was not the worst idea; their own attempts to create an anti-rachni bioweapon had so far been stalled by the bugs' own tendency to adapt against such microbial threats, and the rachni nests were incredibly hostile environments that demanded beings both naturally resistant to toxins and hordes of rachni. The krogan, lumbering about and bashing each other with spiked clubs, looked promising.

Herein demonstrates the logical shortcomings of salarian thinking. Being bound to live only forty years, they are destined to experience at least two major cultural upheavals in their time (it is considered healthy to them) and then die before they see the long term consequences of their own endeavors. Why should they care if bankrupting another family could lead to a weakened Union down the line? They will be dead. Similarly: why should we worry about the race of chuckling war turtles once the war is over? Without their help, we will die!

What followed next has already been covered by other sources. The krogan revolted. The salarians developed a bioweapon to suppress their birthrate. The turians deployed it. One race sterilized and one race rendered extinct thanks to salarian "solutions."

It is perhaps due to the Krogan Rebellions that I am glad that the Great War ended as quickly as it did. There really is no telling what the salarians would have done when faced with swift annihilation at the hands of the zerg. They are the type of people that would unleash every weapon at their disposal imaginable, uncaring of whether anyone, including themselves, would survive the barrage. Indeed, there is evidence that while the turians and geth held the line, the salarians were preparing drastic measures to turn the tide; the so-called project "Egg Smasher," headed by famed STG scientist Mordin Solus and rumored to make the Genophage look restrained and humane. While the targets would have been zerg, the uncharacteristic complete salarian silence on the matter suggests that even they were not proud at what they would have tried to do if the bugs had not been halted.

The end of the Great War provided only momentary relief for the salarian people. After the celebrations concluded, they found themselves faced with a belligerent Turian Hierarchy and a toothless partner in the colonials. They were forced to swiftly reevaluate their relationship with the turians, and take measures necessary to preserve their own autonomy as a government.

Fortunately, the salarian fleets were still mostly intact; they stood alone among the Council races in not having lost more than 80% of their ships in any of their fleets, and their chosen method of warfare, while mostly useless against the zerg on the open battlefield, proved adept at keeping the turians on the back foot. No sooner had the turians illegally staked out an eezo claim in non-infested asari space and begun extraction, the entire operation suffered massive mechanical failures in both the ships and equipment. Turian materiel industries suddenly found themselves subject to a series of thefts of schematics and funds in an enormous cyberattack. Turian fleets patrolling aggressively near the salarian border found themselves uncharacteristically prone to communication and navigation failures, infamously culminating in two turian cruisers, _Valiance_ and _Imperious_ , initiating a jump to the exact same coordinates, with predictably messy results. The turians, while perhaps overly prone to linear thinking, are not stupid. They figured out who was behind these "anomalies" very quickly.

The salarians and turians settled in for a lengthy cold war. To the salarians, who have never declared war on anyone, simply settling for brutal first strikes, their goal is simple: enrage and unbalance the turians until they invade in a manner acceptable to the salarians, and then take them apart piecemeal as the inevitable logistical difficulties (chiefly feeding the troops and protecting their space to prevent asari counterattacks or open volus rebellion) set in. While this plan would likely cost a great many salarian lives, it is widely acknowledged (and I myself agree) that it is easily the best outcome; lose perhaps two major planets, and then shatter the Hierarchy's fighting capability once they overextend.

Unfortunately, being the best solution, it is also the most obvious. The turians are determined to remain even-tempered and rational even in the face of the most outrageous actions from the volus, salarians, and batarians. They have thus far managed to restrain themselves from any strenuous fleet action, instead focusing on fortifying volus space and manufacturing additional dreadnoughts while furthering development in the Thanix program, hoping to drown the salarians in raw firepower. To the salarians, this is perhaps the second-worst outcome, after the protoss simply warping in, annihilating everybody, and leaving. (Yes, this possibility has been considered – it is apparently a meme among salarians on the extranet to addend random statements with, "unless of course, the protoss warp in, kill us all, and leave." Attribute the credit to Harris for finding it.)

 **Salarian Military**

Salarians have traditionally always kept their fleet small, but the crippling of the asari left them in the awkward position of facing down the largest Council military superpower while they were still the smallest. Since then, the salarians have begun a massive recruitment drive and even conscripted members of salarian families compromised for "questionable actions" during the Great War. They have also eliminated centuries old legal barriers to allow for rapid reproduction, and a fresh wave of post-Great War salarian adults, raised in the shadow of the Turian Hierarchy, now look skyward.

Military service among salarians has never been popular, for reasons oddly similar (and yet juxtaposed) to the asari; with their lives so short, they find it wasteful to invite opportunities in which it is cut shorter. That being said, salarian ambition has a tendency to drown out salarian reason, and thus there are still salarian soldiers.

Where terrans and turians value acts of physical valor and superb marksmanship, the salarians consider such activities to be secondary to mastering the more technical side of warfare. All salarian soldiers and marines would be considered tech experts or combat engineers by the other races; they can work wonders with their omnitools both on and off the battlefield, and tend to favor nothing heavier than an assault carbine.

On the ground, salarians favor not engaging enemy forces directly. They typically fight by planting mines, automated turrets, and dispatching thousands of simplistic combat drones to engage the enemy. Salarian recon teams will typically keep a close eye on the enemy force at all times, relaying their movements to their command, and occasionally taking potshots at any ranking officers they happen to see. If caught by enemy infantry, the standard operating procedure of any salarian force is to disengage and retreat through the traps they had already set for their enemy. And there are always traps. Other pleasant salarian tactics include the destruction of key bridges (typically while in use of the enemy) and poisoning water sources with incredibly virulent diseases and parasites.

Despite having studied Koprulu technology extensively, the salarians do not make use of heavy infantry, and still have not adopted heavy armor. They regard CMC and HME suits with derision, finding such suits to be loud and unwieldy, even if the weapons they allow the user to bear are decidedly impressive. Salarians traditionally counter their deployment by other forces through the usage of high explosives, incineration tech, and sniper fire in the case of heavy infantry, and outright sabotage on enemy armor; the only known documented case of an armored unit being able to resist salarian shutdown attempts was an Armali Bulwark during a military exercise. The turians and colonials have yet to match the salarians on the field of cyberwarfare.

In space, the salarian doctrine becomes considerably more complicated. Where the turians prefer the all-solving hammer, the salarian doctrine is more comparable to a stiletto or obsidian dagger – brittle, not capable of solving every task, but surgically precise and very capable in its chosen role.

Compared to other vessels, salarian ships are fragile. This stems chiefly from salarian biology and psychology itself; with their lifespans so short, technological breakthroughs are constant, and every ship is in a constant state of flux, much like the salarians themselves. It is not unusual for a cruiser to be 60% refitted after every other patrol, swapping out now "outdated" drives and weapons with the newest cutting edge version. While this means salarian ships are always top of the line and very easy to repair, it also contributes to their fragility in battle and the vast maintenance requirements such ships demand. The newest generation of salarians within the Union is comprised equally of both soldiers and engineers, ready to tackle the next Great War in a massive showcase of salarian ingenuity.

Reports of salarians having outfitted entire fleets with full spectrum cloaking devices are hopefully false, if only because the cost and time to do so does not line up with the reality. In another decade, it is quite likely that the entire salarian military will be seen vanishing at random, much to the horror of the turians (assuming any are left.)

Salarian GARDIANS are three times as effective as their turian and asari counterparts, and their detection systems are very sensitive, rendering terran stealth practices useless. Simulations of Wraiths and Crusaders flying against salarian forces traditionally feature them being cut to pieces very quickly, denying one of the key advantages of the battlecruiser.

Salarian dreadnoughts have been nicknamed "Tyrants" or "Tyrant Vessels" by turian forces. These ships, thankfully few in number, are capable of firing, jumping to a new position, and firing again within the space of between 5-10 seconds. This makes them incredibly difficult to target and, thanks to the salarians' practice of continually updating their weaponry, they also hit obscenely hard and have little chance of breaking down or even slowing. Fortunately, these dreadnoughts are also considerably softer targets than any other races' equivalent, and one hit is likely all the salarian opposition will need.

Unlike the turians, salarians do not continually and obsessively screen their advance. They are already aware of the situation thanks to their intel, and it is only when things become uncertain (such as when against the zerg and protoss) that salarians become more cautious. If a salarian is performing recon against a foe, it could be counted as a sign of respect; the salarians do not feel they could predict their actions.

The salarian cyberwarfare suite is predictably massive, advanced, and frankly terrifying. Ships engaging them in battle can expect them to sabotage LADAR and communications at every opportunity, and word abounds of over-daring turian vessels being completely disabled and left to float lifeless until they finally surrender to the nearby smirking salarians. Unfortunately for us, the salarians were quick to familiarize themselves with colonial computers, and thus will have an avenue to attack us if necessary. Fortunately, the more advanced state of our own computers, coupled with EDI, should prove a deterrent against salarian cyber intruders. Just don't expect the grace period to last long.

 **Threat Level: Red**

They scare me more than the turians, sir. I didn't even get into how they view the majority of accepted ethics systems in the galaxy as a quaint suggestion. I find it extremely likely that, given their extensive probing into the extranet and all of known space, that they are aware of our probes, even if they cannot find the source. Engagement with them is like trying to swat a fly armed with an uzi; maybe there's an off-chance you can predict its movement or catch it off-guard before it has noticed you, but more likely it will just dodge and unload, and then you're done. Firm suggestion not to engage.

…

How quaint! This UED already knows of us.

Greetings, United Earth Directorate! Given your intrusion into our affairs, we found it necessary to leave some warning not to interfere beyond the Koprulu Sector lest you incur some unfortunate penalties as a species. While we still do not know the location of your homeworld, it pleases the STG that we now have a source of all of those probes over the past few years. We suspected Cerberus … but it seems that was not the case. Or, if it was, they have been more subtle.

A brief, if accurate, overview of our biology, well done.

"…the average salarian only sleeps an hour a day, meaning they can accomplish just as much (if not more) than their longer-lived contemporaries." We like this! A rare acknowledgement of our hard work as a species. We'll leave it in.

Got the job done in the Rachni War. That's all that matters. Krogan developments were regrettable, but ultimately they made the right call.

And there is no "Egg Smasher" project. There never was.

You grossly underestimate our military, but it was nevertheless a fine attempt.

Is there a level above red? Perhaps we could persuade you to give it to us.

 **THREAT ANALYSIS: UNITED EARTH DIRECTORATE**

Consisting of approximately eight hundred+ vessels and rapidly expanding thanks to conscription, the United Earth Directorate (UED) represents the long-lost homeworld of the terrans, Earth, and the nations that inhabit it. Despite having long been dismissed as a threat by the Terran Dominion due to its sizable cosmic distance, Earthly ambition proved to outstrip any concerns over feasibility.

The UED Armada chiefly consists of two major vessels; the Valkyrie Frigate Mk XVI and the Columbus Battlecruiser. Both are notable for featuring more streamlined and smooth designs than all other known terran spacefaring vessels, as well as their capability for "storing" Yamato charges for periods of up to four hours, shaving precious seconds off firing the weapon, and giving UED battlecruisers an edge against their colonial cousins.

The UED is also notable for its usage of its hyper advanced AI spread throughout the fleet, known as the Enhanced Defense Initiative (EDI – how adorable!) This AI serves as a massive cyberwarfare suite, capable of both defending and attacking enemy ships. Thus far, EDI has proven an insurmountable force multiplier against colonial vessels, and the Terran Dominion is struggling to come up with a countermeasure.

The UED infantry have thus far demonstrated admirable restraint against the colonials, however we suspect that this is for practical and unsavory reasons. UED forces have shown a strange preference for nonlethal weaponry and an outright disdain for resocialization procedures, preferring instead to disable foes wherever possible and either conscript or rehabilitate them once captured. While Dominion patriotism still runs high, the effect of UEN broadcasts steadily overriding the Dominion's own UNN broadcasts has proven demoralizing. The UED advance into the Terran Dominion has only been accelerating, rather than slowing.

UED infantry is notable for being vastly different from the hulking colonial marines; UED marines use much smaller Argent battlesuits, which are stepped into and "fold" around the soldier in question. Said suits only add a foot of height but have demonstrated no loss of strength or protection, as well as a considerable increase of maneuverability. UED firearms are also correspondingly smaller, but have reduced the magazine size of the weapon rather than the caliber. As a result, the UED infantry sticks their rifles on semi-auto or three round burst rather than automatic in all but the most extreme emergencies. They have also demonstrated a much greater fondness for battle rifles than any other terran force.

The UED infantry is supplemented with their medics, which are, to be frank, a marvel. Clad in much larger all white suits marked with the terran's Red Cross and bearing massive shields, the UED medic brings stabilizing nanosutures to the field and can heal their comrades' wounds with astounding efficiency. This nanite cocktail can be expelled an impressive distance of eight feet to any friendly target, patching up their wounds while the medic crouches behind their shield. For self-defense, UED medics wield flashbang launchers loaded with rounds designed to incapacitate even targets in power armor. No UED medics have thus been sighted bearing lethal weaponry into combat.

Disappointingly, there has been no evidence of the UED bringing psychic soldiers to bear. Seeing as this was perhaps the only avenue of warfare in which we ourselves have little understanding of, this is unfortunate. For you.

 **THREAT LEVEL: GREEN**

You keep to your sector and stay out of the Umojan Protectorate, and we'll leave you be. You should be quite safe, unless of course…

…the protoss warp in, kill you all, and leave.

Have a nice day.

…

 **Salarian Threat Level: Upgraded to BLACK**


	15. ITSA and Raynor's Raiders Analysis

"Buncha damn yokels…" –General Edmund Duke

 **Independent Terran Systems Alliance (ITSA): Threat Analysis**

The Independent Terran Systems Alliance (commonly known as the ITSA) is a collection of terran planets that nominally owes ties to the Council, but for the most part operates freely from the likes of Emperor Mengsk or Councilor Udina. Consisting of a mixture of asari, elcor, and terrans, the ITSA has earned a reputation of relative lawlessness among the Council peoples, despite its close ties with the much more reputable and considerably more orderly Umojan Protectorate. It is a Democratic Republic consisting of six planets: Eden Prime (the capital), Elysium, Benning, Horizon, Freedom's Progress, and Terra Nova.

Founded by the former mayor of the minor Mar Sara settlement known as Rushtown, Janet Cracey, the ITSA was initially comprised of terran refugees ferried to Eden Prime by the Council in repayment for Mengsk's assistance. Following Tarsonis, the true nature of the event leaked strangely quickly (circumstantial evidence points to now High Matriarch Aethyta being responsible, as she was both on Eden Prime at the time and known for letting her temper overcome her judgement) and the ITSA severed all ties with the Sons of Korhal/Terran Dominion shortly thereafter.

The first notable action of this fledgling government could be considered a defining moment for their character: upon hearing of the flotilla of elcor refugees circling the Citadel, they immediately offered their planet for settlement by the shattered species. This action was very clearly a spur-of-the-moment, do what's right, why the hell not type of action, shocking the Council who had been very carefully deliberating what planet would best suit the heavy worlders and would not upset the existing political balance. The ITSA's offer was impulsive and poorly thought out, as clearly demonstrated by the sheer number of times Janet Cracey said "I don't know," when formally presenting the idea to the Council. However, once actual politicians looked at the situation, it also happened to make sense.

Mar Sara had been a backwater planet, very poorly inhabited, and Eden Prime was a substantial upgrade. The colonists had plenty of space, and the ITSA was nestled on the edge of Council space, out of the way of the salarians and turians. After brief deliberation and consultation with the elcor, the Council accepted the ITSA proposal and moved the elcor to their planet.

Since then, the ITSA has exceeded all expectations by accepting numerous asari and terran refugees from all corners of the galaxy and begun colonizing additional worlds. Despite their low numbers, their leadership correctly assessed that their population would grow quickly, and that someday they might have to face down the Dominion alone; for that they would need additional resources. While none of their worlds are currently very thickly inhabited, Terra Nova, Elysium, and Benning now feature rudimentary shipyards courtesy of combined terran/asari/elcor engineering; for a young nation, especially a colonial one, there is an astonishing amount of ingenuity and cross-cultural interaction going on.

While the ITSA in many ways could be seen to represent a hopeful future for terran/alien relations, the government and its peoples are by no means perfect. The ITSA government, such as it is, takes a very laissez faire attitude to the lives of its citizens, and the main service they seek to provide is a very basic framework of travel infrastructure and a military. Outlying settlements on ITSA planets are just as, if not more so, lawless as the Terminus Systems, and tend to attract all manner of unwholesome characters; it is said that if in the Terminus/KMC, the best place to disappear is Omega, but in Council space, it's the ITSA.

Ignoring the propensity for violent and criminal behavior in the outlying cities, it is also well-known that the terrans of the ITSA tend toward jingoistic and nationalist behavior. Many of them, especially the early colonists, consider their way of doing things to be the only way to do things, and often cite the surprising strength and rapid growth of their own government to be evidence of that. Their booming agriculture industry (currently responsible for feeding about 12% of the remaining Asari Republics) and surprisingly capable navy are usually the most common examples provided.

In truth, however, both of these strengths can be attributed to their partnerships with the elcor and Umojan Protectorate. While Mar Sara farmers are indeed a tenacious and skilled bunch (as farming on dust worlds tends to require,) they are by no means agricultural geniuses, and it took a team of Umojan scientists to come over and both demonstrate better agricultural techniques and provide the relevant tools for the ITSA farming industry to boom, and the bulk of their navy, despite their claims, is still mostly composed of the elcor flotilla.

The ITSA is also known for its extreme aggression when defending its borders. It only took expanding to Elysium for the ITSA to begin making threatening noises at the batarians, long before any actual attacks occurred. When the batarians did attack Elysium, the ITSA struck back with perhaps disproportionate intensity, sending three quarters of their fleet to attack the pirates on Torfan. It took being beaten back by the Batarian Navy itself to convince the ITSA that they had bitten off more than they could chew, and even then they refused to stop harassing the batarians who, as calmly as they could, reminded the ITSA that they could not control the actions of all pirates in the galaxy. While they were undoubtedly partially responsible for the attack on Elysium, it was clear at this point to all but the ITSA that the batarians would be funding no further attacks; the ITSA was too unpredictable, and the KMC/Dominion front was heating up.

As of now, the ITSA has been chomping at the bit to prove themselves as a formidable military power to the galaxy at large, and see the Batarian Hegemony as their natural target. While in an all-out war the ITSA would undoubtedly lose (and part of me would relish seeing that arrogance of theirs disappearing) it is not a war the batarians could afford at this time, and they know it; their newfound clout mostly stems from their partnership with the KMC, and if that becomes threatened, so does the very existence of their government. There will come a time when the Hegemony must choose between helping their allies survive the onslaught of the Dominion or preparing themselves for an eventual conflict with the ITSA.

 **ITSA Military**

The ITSA are proud of their military, citing the incredible resilience and adaptability of their ground troops, as well as possessing some of the most durable cruisers and heavy cruisers in Council space. These claims are all true, even if the ITSA tends to exaggerate the numbers somewhat.

The ITSA ground forces are a veritable mix of basic terran infantry in CMC armor, fielding a variety of colonial arms that have been enhanced with element zero, allowing for a drastic increase in rate of fire and accuracy. ITSA marines are loud and aggressive even by colonial standards, and make liberal use of stimpacks when in battle. Their ferocity still pales in comparison to their alien comrades.

Elcor marines have already been covered in another report, but it really bears repeating here: they are perhaps the apex of current modern infantry, and their firepower cannot be matched. Fielding CMC-4g suits equipped with enormous railguns and side-mounted grenade or missile launchers, elcor marines tend to leave only destruction in their wake. Contrary to the popular opinion of the galaxy on the elcor, these specimens tend to match the terrans in being both loud and fight-happy. At Torfan, a division of elcor marines deployed to the planet's surface managed to kill twenty-seven pirates for every one of theirs that fell, and this was only after the enemy resorted to very clumsy and panicked airstrikes. For all the bluster of the ITSA, the elcor are a very real threat to deal with.

The asari are also not to be dismissed. While the other two arms of the ITSA military fight with a mixture of brute force and even more brute force, the asari specialize in disrupting the enemy through skilled application of biotics and simple long-ranged marksmanship. Since the inception of the ITSA Commandos, most of them train in Terra Nova's jungles and deserts to get a good grasp of handling difficult terrain and surviving in deeply hostile environments. This has helped create a division of biotic commandos that can survive deep in hostile territory for extended periods of time while still maintaining the capability to strike out against any nearby opposition.

In battle itself, provided there is no option to retreat, ITSA Commandos favor the flashier biotic techniques such as charge, nova, and shockwave; the idea is to force the enemy to break away from them and allow the asari to resume their recon and sniping duties. This is a far more aggressive approach than their counterparts within the Republics but neatly reflects the differences in doctrine between the two governments, even as the Republics militarizes.

As for the ITSA navy, much of it is simply repurposed elcor ships and badly outdated Behemoth battlecruisers. While the ITSA does possess a single Archangel dreadnought courtesy of the Umojan Protectorate, this lone dreadnought cannot win a war on its own; all it can do is make the ITSA an unattractive target to attack.

In their very few naval engagements, the ITSA have naturally demonstrated a considerable amount of courage born almost definitely out of ignorance. While there are seasoned former Confederate commanders among their military, it seems they have chosen to try and harness the boundless enthusiasm of their soldiers and sailors as an advantage. Against the batarians, the ITSA proved unrelentingly aggressive, closing the distances between themselves and the batarians continually, and unloading their yamatos on the nearest available target, as opposed to saving them for high priority targets such as heavy cruisers and dreadnoughts. Ships that suffered catastrophic damage were also observed redirecting their course so that they would crash into pirate strongholds on the planet below while very loud colonial music blared from the ship itself; something many pirates on Torfan's surface reported hearing that day was the sound of colonial electric guitars, immediately followed by a high-pitched whining and a distant boom.

While the ITSA rightfully received a great deal of political flak for crashing large ships with radioactive cores, it neatly showcased their considerable willingness to visit stupendous amounts of violence on those that displeased them, regardless of the relative cost. While the ITSA seeks to finish things with the Hegemony in order to prove themselves, the truth is that they already have; no one wants to deal with these lunatics because doing so simply is not worth it. Taking six worlds with only a moderate amount of infrastructure and losing an entire fleet and a half in doing so is simply not a good idea. The fact that the ITSA maintains strong ties with the Asari Republics, Umojan Protectorate, and possibly the protoss, all of whom would be capable of administering terrible retaliation, is simply an afterthought.

 **Threat Level: Green**

This threat level is slightly misleading; attacking the ITSA is a very poor idea. Their territories exist outside the Koprulu Sector, meaning that we cannot simply hold one chokepoint against the rest of the galaxy, they are surrounded by allies who would be all too willing to administer revenge and subsequently claim their worlds for themselves for as long as possible, and they are known to have ties to James Raynor, who has ties to the protoss. If we attacked them, the threat level would be orange.

However, if we choose to leave them be, they will prove no threat whatsoever. Their navy, while valiant, is tiny, and they cannot afford any jaunts into the Koprulu Sector. While they will no doubt feel negatively towards the UED (we will inevitably remind them of the turians and Dominion) there is very little they can actually do about the incursion.

…

Hoping this goes through.

This is Commander Amelia Shepard of the United Earth Directorate, writing this report on behalf of Captain David Anderson, whose wounds sustained during Operation Thieving Shepherd still trouble him. This is to be a brief report on what I have seen of the paramilitary organization known as Raynor's Raiders, focusing primarily on their standing forces and a few individuals of note. I humbly request that any inadvertent omissions or inappropriate content within this report be forgiven; again, I am submitting this report on behalf of a superior, and was unaware up until that moment that I might be required to provide commentary on colonial behaviors and organizations.

Here we go.

 **Raynor's Raiders Analysis**

Raynor's Raiders is a colonial paramilitary organization consisting of about 1,500 individuals operating aboard the former Confederate battlecruiser, Norad II. These individuals are a mix of expatriates from a variety of nations both alien and colonial; thus fair I have interacted with current and former citizens of the Batarian Hegemony, Independent Terran Systems Alliance, Asari Republics, Volus Protectorate, Kel-Morian Combine, Umojan Protectorate, and the Dominion/Confederacy.

The Raiders' affiliation appears somewhat unclear. Broaching the subject of allegiance with Captain Matthew Horner, he appeared flustered and replied that the Raiders are "independent" but that anyone affiliated with them is automatically welcome in the ITSA, even the batarian known as Declan. When I asked if they served as a sort of corsair for the ITSA, he responded in the negative, and indicated (without pride) that they were essentially mercenaries in the vein of the Blue Suns or War Pigs, even if their own code of honor kept their reputation relatively clean. One thing he did make clear was that, regardless of their status, they would never work for the Terran Dominion and considered Emperor Arcturus Mengsk to be the greatest threat to their own existence and freedom.

Of their standing forces, the Raiders are a mixed bunch. Virtually all of their ground troops are veterans of the Great War, with all the experience and lingering wounds that implies. While Jim Raynor (the unofficial commander of all ground operations) rudely rebuffed me when I approached him with questions, Matt Horner continued to demonstrate both trust and professionalism and told me that the Raiders preferred to only commit to missions that required small teams; despite being able to field a "decent" number of operatives on the ground (I did not ask how many so as not to be seen as intrusive) they cannot afford to take many casualties.

Of their ground forces, the vast bulk appear to be marines clad in CMC armor. Most of them are colonial, but there is at least one elcor and at least one batarian marine, both of whom use different kit. I believe the Raiders also field several asari commandos, but I could be wrong; at least one asari on the ship is actually a civilian who just happens to be in a romantic entanglement with a near-toothless terran marine known as Jenny Sterling.

The Raiders possess a few outdated siege tank models as well as a few Wraiths. From what I was given to understand in conversation with the bizarrely muscular midget engineer, Rory Swann, neither had seen any use in several years, but he keeps them in good shape regardless. Much more strangely, I discovered a dismantled Psi Disrupter among the tanks, but did not question its presence to Rory Swann.

The Norad II itself is kept in fairly good shape, though it is very notably cranky for maintenance. En route to Moria, we were forced to stop twice while SCV teams made repairs on the hull of the ship and technicians shored up about half a hundred various mechanical difficulties that had sprung up during the jumps, and Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, our helmsman, expressed anxiety upon seeing the state of the Norad II's reactor. While it is not at any real risk of failing in any fashion, he believes that the Raiders are providing less than expert care for it, and all it would take is one badly mismanaged disaster to turn the vessel into a small reenactment of Chernobyl.

As for armament, the Norad II appears to have gone in for retrofits with the ITSA, as the ATA and ATS laser batteries are of current make, rather than Great War era. Impressively, they kept the scale of the Norad II's previous weaponry, and thus the Norad II is probably one of the largest and heavily armed non-dreadnought battlecruisers in the Koprulu Sector. The armor, though patched over many times, is also still extremely thick, and the vessel features a truly staggering number of redundant systems. While the crew may have difficulties keeping the ship in perfect condition, I cannot imagine them coming up second best in any engagements with pirates or other mercenaries.

Overall, the Raiders appear to be living day to day; they have no long term plan (or rather, they have a long term plan of killing Mengsk, but until now have had little to no means of acting upon it) and appear only concerned with maintaining their own freedom from the galaxy's various governments. This prevailing attitude, however, mainly stems from James Raynor and most other former inhabitants of Mar Sara, all of whom seem extremely jaded from the events of the Great War; those outside his immediate circle, such as Captain Horner and the ex-chaplain known as Daniel Trome, seem willing to consider eventually settling down in either the Protectorate or ITSA.

 **Notable Individuals**

James Raynor is the de facto leader of Raynor's Raiders, chiefly evidenced by the fact the group is named after him. The man is currently 36 years old but looks far older, with a lined face and badly graying hair. I am given to understand that he is exceedingly prone to drinking since the Great War's end, although he has recently cheered up, somewhat. When in a good mood, he exudes a natural folksy charisma, and I am not ashamed to admit that I have even found myself charmed by his comments and cracks.

When in a bad mood, however, he tends to lash out at anyone and everyone he is close to, and is prone to sulking in his room for days at a time. These bad moods are always temporary, but sometimes occur at less than expedient times and make it difficult to conduct business. Despite these bouts of depression and hostility, Raynor is widely beloved by the crew and a brief trawl through the extranet also reveals a surprising fanbase there, too. His easygoing nature (when in a good mood) and refusal to give in to the "evils" of established government (…no matter how much doing so would make sense) has won him quite a few friends. A pity none of them are very powerful, barring perhaps the Cerberus agent.

Miranda Lawson stands out among the colonials of the vessel. Keeping herself impressively clean and maintaining an imperious demeanor at all times, she sets herself apart from the Raiders in both physical presentation and voice. My own brief interactions with the woman have been universally curt, and she does not appear keen on acting in anything less than a professional manner. My own research into her history reveals her to be a member of a now defunct Confederate Old Family, but little beyond that. The only times I have seen her drop her cold bitch act have been in the face of Jim Raynor, whom she seems to nurse a soft spot for. Raynor, at least, does not treat Lawson any differently. At this time, I am afraid I have been unable to uncover anything regarding the nature of Cerberus or Miranda Lawson.

Matthew Horner, previously mentioned, is the captain of Norad II. He also stands out from the other Raiders in his adherence to personal hygiene, correct language, and an old Confederate officer's uniform. He has proven courteous and professional to all UED personnel, and it was he who introduced us to the vessel at large when Raynor proved unwilling. He spends the majority of his time checking up on the status of maintenance and repairs, while also coordinating the Norad II's flight path and her flight personnel.

He proved willing to disclose his own previous history serving with the Sons of Korhal, where he proved himself an able helmsman both before and during the Great War. He seems immensely proud of the Raiders, even as they remain somewhat aimless, and expresses great care and concern for all the crew. Despite his own considerable skill and charisma, he still considers Raynor to be the leader, and forced himself to stop talking to me after a certain point because Raynor disapproved. I cannot honestly blame him.

There is but a single Raider psionic operative, a barely clothed, heavily tattooed woman by the name of Jack(?). She is apparently a recent addition, and it is not really clear if she considers herself a part of the Raiders at all. According to Trome, she had suffered horribly in her past but is slowly coming to accept the ship as a safe space, and is willing to do violence on behalf of the Raiders. Indeed, she is enthusiastic.

I briefly witnessed Jack in operation on Moria, where she revealed herself to be a bizarrely capable kinetic, throwing light infantry about as if they made of cardboard. Such aptitude for kinetics suggests a very high psi score, but interactions with the woman suggested extreme hostility stemming from uncertainty in gauging the intent of others. Despite her supposed strength, she cannot read minds. This might require looking into.

Then there are the grunts. Tychus Findlay is an enormous brute of a man, recently thawed from a cryogenic sentence, and his loudness is only matched by his propensity for hitting on anything and everything female on board the vessel. He nevertheless proved himself an able combatant during the Moria op, and is quick to back off once his advances are seriously rejected.

Daniel Trome is a former Confederate chaplain whose lined face belies his considerable experience in battle. Serving as a sort of unofficial second in command for the Raiders' ground forces, Trome spoke to me at length on the colonial religion of Cyclism, but did not see fit to disclose much beyond that. Horner at least, mentioned that the man had seen more combat under the Confederates than the rest of the crew combined, but there was little evidence of that in his soft-spoken words.

The batarian, Declan, was far more open than any other member of Raynor's Raiders, perhaps to a disturbing degree. After being abandoned by the Hegemony following an operation in the Zerg Exclusion Zone going bad, he was rescued unexpectantly by Raynor's Raiders, who were collecting samples for the Protectorate. Unfortunately, having been declared dead, his attempt to return to the Hegemony was short-lived; his wife had been forced to remarry or be faced with a swift demotion to the Slave Caste along with her daughters, leaving him with little reason to remain. He signed up with Raynor's Raiders out of gratitude, but still periodically sends his own earnings back to his former wife, for the sake of his children. On the battlefield, I was given to understand he traditionally makes use of shock nets, power gauntlets, and high powered harpoon guns to immobilize and devastate enemy infantry. He says he does not particularly care if he lives or dies these days, but would be proud if he gave his life in service of another Raider.

The elcor marine, Xeltan, is both enormous and surprisingly loud. A brief conversation revealed that he is in fact rather young (barely out of his adolescent years) and that his own youth had been spent in delinquency of some kind. During the Great War, he was stuck in a cell on the Citadel while his homeworld burned, prompting, in his words, "a change of priorities."

These days he serves as the Raiders' muscle, a role he performs admirably. Having seen him in action, I can personally declare his combat capability to be as great as it is bizarre to witness; like all elcor, he begins all sentences with a statement of emotion, and this device continues to perform its duty even as he screams at terrified hordes of KMC mercenaries.

I have not had time to speak with many staff beyond that, but I would like to make a few notes about our mutual friend, one Lieutenant Samir Duran.

A brief trawl of the extranet and a few questions directed at the Raiders revealed nothing of his past history. Like Lawson, he appears to be a ghost. (Well, in the sense that he does not appear to exist. He is also obviously a psionic operative.)

His loyalty remains dubious; he maintains an obsequious tone with his superiors and his remarks regarding his "sincere" belief in the UED's cause could easily be construed as sarcastic. At the same time, the one occasion I caught Lawson and Duran communicating, it was clear Lawson wanted little to do with him.

I have strong doubts about the weakness of his psionic capability. Aside from his incredible performance in combat, he always seems to know where everyone is at all times. A few off-hand remarks also suggest that he is reading the minds of nearly everyone important on the vessel. I feel greatly uneasy when near him, as does nearly everyone else I have spoke to about him. The only one who seems at ease in his presence is Jim Raynor, who treats him with an easy friendliness that Duran seems to strangely appreciate.

My questioning of him regarding his history turned up flagrantly contradictory information. He claims he served the Confederacy before Cerberus and the UED, but defected to Cerberus once the Confederacy lost Antiga Prime. Given the extensive conditioning he would have undergone, this does not seem possible. He also claims to have been born on Tyrador IV, but Matt Horner says he does not have a trace of the accent, instead sounding like he came from the rougher parts of Haji.

The man is an unrelenting instigator of conflict, insisting that the song "Sweet Home Alabama" is his favorite despite the obvious displeasure of myself and Williams, backing Rory Swann in playing the song in the bar over and over, and has taken to humming it under his breath as he walks by other UED personnel. It is maddening.

That is all I have to report at this time. In closing, I believe the Raiders could be a considerable asset to the UED given their connections and the veteran nature of their ground forces, but at the same time must offer due caution: Raynor is greatly suspicious of the Directorate and believes that when the Dominion falls, we will fail to address the bigger picture of ongoing galactic conflict and this Reaper threat, and instead simply become another oppressive agency. Making an enemy of the man might appear safe, given the Raiders' general aimlessness, but the imminent fall of Mengsk seems to have reinvigorated him, and his crew is as loyal as ever. Betraying his trust risks him becoming an unpredictable liability. Conversely, strengthening it will win you over an able ally.

I hope this report is satisfactory; please bear in mind that additional reports will be forthcoming as more information becomes available.

The future awaits us.

-Commander A. Shepard

* * *

 **A/N: It's done, hurray! Next will probably be a brief biography of Alexei Stukov and a few other UED characters, then I think I will call it for the time being. That being said, if you have any suggestions or requests please let me know either through PM or review. If you do want to make a request through review, please at least spend a sentence commenting on this chapter. ;)**

 **Cheers. Hope these analyses have been enjoyable! Soon we will be at Korhal, which ... well, do you know what the Battle of Blackwater from A Song of Ice and Fire is? It'll be kinda like that.**


	16. Personnel File: Alexei Stukov

**UED Critical Personnel File: Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov**

Vice Admiral,

We have successfully apprehended the woman responsible for this file, one Khalisah Bint-Sinan Al Jilani, an Egyptian woman who claims to be a freelance journalist. A brief scan of existing UED Journalist License archives reveals that she is, in fact, a freelance journalist (one of about 150 registered on the planet) but that her registration was fast tracked by one Alfonse Iglesias, a former propagandist for the Southern American Coalition who now works in the Information Ministry.

It is unsurprising that this woman's activities threw up so many red flags, so I must confess a degree of embarrassment that we caught her so late in her writing process. We have secured all known copies that Ms. Al Jilani has confessed to existing, but we believe one or more copies may have been sent to unknown (read: former SAC) parties. If there is a silver lining, they would most likely be incomplete drafts.

For what it is worth, Ms. Al Jilani has proven greatly cooperative since her apprehending, and appeared genuinely surprised to learn that her ongoing work was unknown to most of the United Earth Directorate. A brief look through her emails suggests that she was misled by a handful of former SAC agents (none of whom show up in existing records of UED political personnel,) leaving only Mr. Iglesias, who mysteriously vanished last week. As a result, I am going to suggest leniency in her ultimate sentence, although I understand if, following the perusal of this document, you were to disagree.

We will continue to interrogate Iglesias's family for the time being, but I do not anticipate any further arrests, and the family appears blameless and will soon be released. We await your word on what to do with the remainder of all known copies of this document.

With utmost respect,

Lieutenant Samuel Cameron, UED Counterintelligence Agency

 **From Anonymity to Admiral: The Life of Alexei Stukov**

 **By Khalisah Bint Sinan Al Jilani**

When speaking of the higher military officers in the United Earth Directorate (UED), the talk is frequently of lineages and past performances, of the number of medals adorning their chests and the number of battles won. From the tale of Steven Hackett's unlikely ascension to the ranks of Fleet Admiral to the sterling record of Admiral Gerard DuGalle and his flawless conduct in defense of Boston Harbor against extremist Mars elements, there are any number of UED military figures that can be pointed to as shining examples for our children to look up to.

Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, however, is often left off the lists of living legends and daring heroes. As I drive across a road adjacent to an endless sea of shining green grass and stinking bogs, the questions begin to mount in my mind: just who is this man, and how did he rise to prominence?

In contrast to Steven Hackett, born an SAC citizen before immigrating to Albuquerque, New Mexico, there are practically no known official documentations on the man. There are no known interviews, documentaries, or biographies. The closest the Vice Admiral ever came to the global limelight was when he played a role in revealing first contact in the colonial sector, saving Admiral DuGalle from SAC terrorists in the process. While his heroism was initially warmly greeted and indeed even spawned a briefly popular extranet meme, the man quickly faded into the shadows once more, leaving nothing more than a half a million barely remembered internet images with the caption: "Well? Get on with it!"

In the distance, the faint outlines of a handful of weathered buildings stand against the unending horizon of green. Vidnonrog, a Siberian town in the middle of nowhere, the birthplace and hometown of Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov.

Standing in the middle of the town next to my car, huddled under my jacket, I could not help but feel that I had left the civilized world behind. The road signs featured a rare phenomenon, being written in both recognizable English letters and indecipherable Cyrillic, an unusual courtesy to the residents whom, I increasingly began to realize through their outright stares, had somehow managed to avoid or at least mitigate the effects of globalization and the subsequent supremacy of the United Powers League and United Earth Directorate simply through sheer isolation. Nevertheless, when I asked for directions in clear English, the locals, in an accent as thick as it was charming, provided me with concise instruction as to where I would find the mother of Vidnonrog's most prominent son.

Unlike the rest of the village, Nikita Stukov actually seemed ready for me. She waited on a rocking chair in a sunlit porch, calmly smoking a cigarette and watching my car's approach with polite interest. A broad woman with a lined face, she wore a red and black babushka adorned with the symbol of the United Earth Directorate, its vibrant color standing out against a village whose pallet mainly consisted of brown, green, and gray.

After putting out her cigarette, she welcomed me with a polite nod and motioned for me to follow her into the two story house she occupied – alone, as it turns out. Peter Stukov, the father of Alexei, had died over twenty years ago and had "dispelled any glamor about being a married woman," in Nikita's words. I could not help but notice the blast of heat as I crossed the threshold into the house, nor could I ignore the strangely state of the art kitchen, gleaming and chrome while the rest of the village made do with wood and concrete. A laptop sat atop the counter, the browser open to several websites, all of which seemed to relate to the Armada's development in Earth's orbit. For a moment I thought Nikita would begin brewing tea, but she instead opted to place a large mug in front of me and poured in simple vodka, clear and possessed of an odor that burned the nostrils.

"It will keep you warm when you are outside," said Nikita, not unkindly, downing half of her own mug in a single swig. She nodded and smiled as I politely took a sip and struggled not to choke; the taste and texture of the drink reminded me of nail varnish and rendered my mouth numb. "You will adapt. My English is good, yes?"

It was such a strange question to my ears. Within the UPL/UED, English had always been the primary language. Even in Egypt and Libya, former hotbeds of anti-western sentiment, English remained the first language taught in schools, the language that adorned road signs and the backpacks of the school children. Arabic was taught as an elective and usually treated as an extravagance, much like learning Latin had been in times past. While the rich might have found amusement in speaking the tongues of no-longer-sovereign nations, it had never appealed to myself or my family. But here, in the middle of nowhere, an elderly Russian woman asks me whether her English is sufficient, clearly implying that she has little use for it in her daily life.

Nikita Stukov seemed satisfied when I told her (attempting to contain my astonishment) that her English was indeed sufficient, and then we lapsed into a brief awkward silence as I tried to recover my bearings. After retrieving my notes and complimenting Nikita's house, I launched into a lengthy explanation as to why I felt her son to be important (chiefly mentioning his role in saving Admiral DuGalle and revealing the existence of intelligent alien life to the public) and that this was the reason I had contacted her and made such a lengthy trip away from Novosibirsk. She nodded and sipped her vodka before casting a dour look at the mantelpiece in the living room, atop which sat an unadorned urn.

"His doing," she said sourly, jerking her head towards the urn. "Always pushing for Alexei to do better, dreaming of a better life for the family through the son."

"Tell me," I said, and she did.

Alexei Stukov was born in 2452, in Vidnonrog's old hospital (now demolished and replaced). The birth had been a difficult one, in no small part due to a recent shortage of painkillers in Vidnonrog.

"The doctors told me that he was to be born feet first," said Nikita, grimacing and rubbing her belly. "They learn this at the last minute. I still have the scars. Babies are not to come out with the feet first, I learned that day. So they cut me open."

Following her emergency C-Section, Nikita spent the next few months in recovery while Alexei remained in the maternity ward. Peter Stukov visited the two of them every day, even days when Nikita did not have the strength to remain conscious for very long. Again I was struck by the relative simplicity of the lifestyle out here – while they had access to painkillers and skilled surgeons, all it took was a simple stockpile error elsewhere in the world and Vidnonrog would run short of vital supplies.

"You need not look so surprised," Nikita said, noticing the expression on my face. "Always there are places in the world the planes have trouble reaching, the rails twist away from. The spaceports are for the larger cities, and this lifestyle teaches both patience and innovation. Thanks to Alexei's successes I have traveled, but this is where I am happy."

I resisted the urge to point to global warming as the reason Nikita felt relative comfort in Siberia at an advanced age, feeling it to be imprudent. I asked her to continue.

Alexei's early childhood went by without much fuss; the two parents were relieved to have birthed a baby with no apparent defects and who seemed to be in overall good health. Very quickly they realized Alexei's intelligence, as once he spoke he picked up new words very quickly, and he was not prone to forgetting the things he heard. While Nikita could not help but laugh when Alexei began to talk back to Peter and herself when told to do something, Peter would grow very quiet and simply stare at the boy, his meaning impossible to discern.

At the age of eight, the meaning became clear. Peter explained at length that there was a UPL funded school for gifted children in Moscow, and that Alexei should take the test for admission. If he was admitted, he would be afforded numerous opportunities, including the potential for high-ranking government employment, should his studies go well and he strive for higher education.

The downside, Nikita tried to bring up, would be that Alexei barely spoke English and that the Moscow school was a boarding school. He would be back only to enjoy the mild summers. Peter nevertheless insisted, stating that accommodations could be made – their situation was not so unusual. Much of the more remote areas of Siberia had survived the UPL's influence … and besides, Alexei would first have to pass the test before this would become relevant.

Needless to say, he did pass, and in flying colors. It was here that Peter's plan first began to fall apart – Alexei's scores captured the interest of one UPL agent, who became concerned that otherwise brilliant Russian children were being raised to speak languages other than English and subsequently having their minds poisoned against the United Powers League. The resulting crackdown on Vidnonrog and a few other remote villages that failed to pass muster under the watchful eyes of UPL inspectors ended the relative freedom many of these villages possessed, and no less than 75 summary executions were carried out on some of the more stubborn residents. Peter Stukov himself was imprisoned for no less than six years at an undisclosed location. He returned a much different person, emaciated, balding, and bitter.

"He wanted to see a payoff from his son," she said. "Peter blamed Alexei for his suffering, when it was Peter who insisted on bringing the attention of the UPL upon us. The celebrations over his return ended quickly."

By this point, Alexei was spending most of his life in Moscow, under the watchful eye of UPL tutors. His English had greatly improved, to the point that Nikita had trouble understanding him at points. He did not seem to know how to react to the return of his father, who questioned him harshly about his grades and plans for his future, seeming outraged at Alexei's timid military aspirations.

"He is too small, he doesn't care for the social sciences, his roommates always best him at chess…" Nikita dully recited these complaints and shook her head. "And now he wishes to try for the Orleans Officer Academy. What place does a Russian, a Siberian at that, have in France? But of course, Peter failed to realize that he had not crafted a Siberian. That would have meant keeping him at home. Alexei's loyalties were set at that point."

I asked Nikita what she meant by that, and she only shrugged.

"The UPL was not keen on fostering dissent, and Alexei felt far more at home in the city than he did out here." She seemed sad. "Peter drove him away altogether."

At the age of sixteen, Alexei politely informed his mother that he would no longer be returning over the summers, instead remaining for summer studies in Moscow, potentially traveling to several other cities as well. Nothing Nikita could say would sway him, and Peter did little more than wave off his son irritably, a bottle in hand. For the next fifteen years, Alexei and Nikita would communicate only over phone, email, and video, leaving an incomplete picture of just what he occupied himself with over that time.

Initially, things seem to go well. Alexei graduated with honors in both English and Military History, successfully applying to the Orleans Academy. His first few emails and videos were breathless: the sights, the smells, the people, all of it was "beautiful" to him.

"Beautiful," said Nikita, wiping her nose. "That was a word I had not heard him use before. He took after my father; clever but quiet, and rarely in a good mood. I suppose we gave him little reason to be in a good mood."

Then a pall of dismay settled over him. His complexion seemed to turn greasy, his cheeks sunken. The fellow students did not like him, mocked his distinctive accent and short stature. Many others simply did not notice him, being short and unremarkable looking as he was. His physical performance in the more martial aspects of his education lagged due to his comparative lack in size to his opponents. He attempted to join a debate club and was soundly roasted by his opponents, many of whom came from near-aristocratic backgrounds in other parts of Europe.

And there was something else, some kind of incident involving another student. Nikita did not know what it was, and Alexei refused to tell her.

"It involved another student," was all he said, and I resolved to look into it later. Fortunately for Alexei, just as he began making preparations to return to Moscow, he made an unlikely friend: one Gerard DuGalle, then simply a cadet. DuGalle, tall, handsome, and capable, took pity on the sallow Russian youth and found (likely to his own surprise) that he enjoyed Alexei's company. Alexei, for his part, desperate for friendly human contact, latched on to DuGalle.

Where Alexei was short and weak, Gerard was tall and strong. Where Alexei's skills at chess and knowledge of the social sciences flagged, Gerard was proficient. At the same time, Gerard's blunt and unbending method of thinking was occasionally aided by Alexei's critical thinking skills and unusual perspective, and when Gerard threatened to fail his Maths classes, Alexei managed to tutor him into a passing grade.

"He showed me pictures," said Nikita, now smiling. "Tall, very handsome. Alexei seemed almost in – he seemed very happy with his friend."

The two of them survived their four years together, propping one another up whenever one threatened to fail. In time, both instructors and students alike recognized them as a unit, and a promising one at that. According to Nikita, Alexei was at the happiest point in his life.

When it came time to graduate, Alexei expressed an interest in Special Projects while Gerard was bound for command, for which he had been groomed for all his life. Alexei seemed glum when it came time for them to part, and refused to explain to his mother just what his future would look like. It was at this point that Nikita's own narrative came to a halt – past Alexei's time in Orleans their contact turned into a handful of messages, a few large sums of cash (which turned into the kitchen), and long stretches of silence. I thanked Nikita and prepared to leave, resolved to uncover the rest of the story, what Alexei's own mother did not know.

This meant first contacting the Academy at Orleans from the relative warmth of Moscow hotel, watching the sun set over the peculiar domes of some of the buildings. After supplying the code Quixote had provided, they were kind enough to give me the contact for the first agency Alexei had worked for, as well as reluctantly shed light on just what the "incident" had been. While it was not spelled out for me just what it was, it involved another student, a man named Craig Dunton, and the both of them had been widely ostracized for the event.

"Alexei insisted that it had been a mistake and a one-time thing," said the man on the other end of the line, a retired colonel. "If his test scores had not been so promising, he would have been shipped back home, like Craig. It almost irrevocably damaged his future as a servant of the UPL."

Whatever it was, it shook the colonel to speak of it, and pressing produced no further information, only that whatever it was it had been "disgusting," and that it was shocking to him that Gerard DuGalle would have anything to do with Alexei when it was clear "what he was." Slightly shaken myself, I terminated the connection and took a deep breath, uncertain how to feel about descending into the infamous pit of snakes that was Special Projects. I tried to reassure myself that, whatever else, it was an opportunity few other journalists were afforded. Of course, there was good reason for that.

Even once in contact with an ever so polite English woman on the other end of the line, my heart continued to hammer as she asked, almost sweetly, who I was and what my purpose was. Providing the pass codes and a hurried explanation, she almost seemed to lose interest as she sent a link to my email address, almost disappointed that I was not some kind of saboteur. Thus I was provided a small amount of access to the Special Projects records – the small amount being everything that was related to Alexei Stukov, listed chronologically.

After first arriving at the Special Projects site in Bulgaria, Alexei was assigned with oversight over the testing of a variety of experimental medicines on a mix of animal subjects and human volunteers. Most of them were concerned with the combatting of the various superbugs that had arisen in the age of post-antibiotics, but a handful revolved around the usage of prototype nanomachines designed to treat physical maladies both on and off the battlefield. From the reports, Alexei was apparently fascinated, dedicating as much time as possible to interact with the biologists and engineers in charge and seeking new means of testing these machines. Alexei dove into the field of human biology and nanotechnology with previously unforeseen fervency, trying to make up for the gaps in his own knowledge with raw enthusiasm.

While he still fell quite short of matching any of the experts they had assigned to the projects, his unusual and extreme approaches to the experiments finally met with success when Alexei coaxed nanomachines into reattaching a severed cow's leg, ushering in a new age of battlefield medicines. While the documents shortly afterward descended into a mess of [ **Redacted** ]s, it was clear that Alexei's methods of testing and perfecting the technology became more extreme, resulting in several deaths among human volunteers. After the fifth death, Alexei was relocated to Saturn's moon of Titan, having apparently exceeded Special Projects' tolerance for achieving results by any means necessary, but not to the degree that they felt he could be of no use.

Alexei's Titan posting was intended to be a test of Alexei's social capability and knowledge of military matters. He was put in command of managing non-critical supplies to Titan Base's spaceport, a task that, after a few weeks, he began to excel at. Special Projects, curious at the man's potential, also ordered that he put in as much time as possible to study Titan's surface liquid composition in search of any of the vaunted life that they believed still could be found below. To their surprise, Alexei managed to continue his flawless command while also taking the time to both procure samples and write extensive reports regarding its composition, doing his best to educate himself on the matters of chemistry he was less proficient with in the process. While the reports were sometimes rambling and short on hard science, they gradually increased in complexity over time, something Special Projects lead Jane Heisenberg noticed.

Impressed by his resolve if nothing else, Heisenberg recommended a quick promotion to Commander and a reassignment on the science vessel _Curie_ , where his skills might be better put to use. Alexei spent three years on and off the Curie, which spent the majority of its time orbiting Neptune and Pluto, recovering geological samples. It was at this time that he reestablished contact with Gerard, who had recently reached the rank of Captain, having been fast-tracked through a sterling police action in Nicaragua. While neither could talk to the other about work to any great degree, it was clear through the volume of communication logs that I saw that they were pleased to hear from one another.

Following Alexei's stint on the _Curie_ , he reunited with Gerard on the UPL Indonesian base, the two of them resolving to spend their shore leave seeing the world together. Alexei sent back regular reports to Special Projects (who preferred to know what their people were doing at all times) and ended up meeting Gerard's beau (Helena Delacroix) in Paris, while visiting his family.

While he had previously been content to tag along with Gerard to China, Malaysia, and Australia, something apparently spurred Alexei back to his post at this point, citing a "disinterest in further shore leave." He poured his attention in full to his assigned projects, briefly revisiting (and further perfecting) his former nanite experiments, before joining a team in psionic research tests. At this time the records became considerably less clear, as SAC interference in the project upped its level of secrecy past my own clearance. Whatever happened, it culminated in an incident in the Alps that left six UPL soldiers dead, along with a pair of SAC ghosts. Alexei was among the survivors and was subsequently awarded the Crux de Valor for slaying one ghost with an improvised explosive, his first confirmed kill in UPL service. A promotion to Captain followed after a brief investigation.

From here, records become murky, spiking in and out of top classified. Alexei met his wife, Diana Kostynova, during a brief visit back to the Russia (in which, I noted, he conspicuously avoided visiting his parents) who became rather obsessed with him. Their correspondence would continue over the course of the next decade, during which Alexei would involve himself in further psionic experiments, as well as a variety of genetic engineering programs dedicated to purging the few remaining genetic diseases threatening mankind. While it was unclear just what Alexei's motivation was at this point beyond his own advancement, a log left by a Colonel David Kellermann shines some light on the man.

"He does not seek the limelight, only results," writes Kellermann, unable to get a grip on the man. "He despises small talk and seems to lack any hobbies. There is no family I can see: no wife, no talk of mother or father, of siblings. He brushes off all questions of origin or intent. All that matters to him is the work, the results. Those who are incompetent learn to fear him, while those who are skilled quickly begin to envy him. He possesses an absence of charm, but when pitted with a difficult problem, I am happy to have him at my side, if still more than a little anxious."

At the end of the decade, at age 38, Alexei married Diana, much to the apparent surprise of Gerard, whom Alexei had resumed contact with a few years before. The two of them married at Orleans, marking the last time Peter Stukov would leave Siberia, and one of the few times Alexei saw his father after leaving Moscow. The two of them exchanged only three words over the course of the ceremony, and Alexei was never seen dancing with his bride. Nevertheless, his first child was conceived that night, and Heisenberg curiously writes that various doubts were "put to rest" at this display. Alexei became a family man, and spent the next four years with his wife, working only part time for Special Projects in Dusseldorf, taking the time to work on a doctorate on Applied Psionic Theory, a much maligned and criticized field often nicknamed "voodoo."

While Alexei never ended up finishing his doctorate, he did manage to find opportunity in the from now Rear Admiral DuGalle: in the wake of continued Mars Separatist actions, Admiral Hackett needed skilled logisticians well-versed with running supply lines in space, and Captain Stukov fit the bill. Alexei leapt at the opportunity to serve alongside his friend, and left his pregnant wife and two children behind at their three story home in Dusseldorf, greatly enthusiastic in the face of this opportunity.

Alexei's experience as a fleet logistician took an unexpected turn as the conflict turned especially ugly; a SAC supplied ion cannon gave the rebels on Mars a considerable advantage, and Alexei's ship was left disabled and subsequently boarded. While the captain of the ship was slain, Alexei rallied a group of survivors and successfully pushed the invaders back and even entered their own ship, taking three wounds in the process. Admiral Hackett was left astonished at the fleet logistician's ferocity, and recommended he be groomed for command, once he had recovered from his injuries.

Finally, Alexei received a degree of the recognition that Gerard had enjoyed since the early days of the Orleans Academy. After a brief stint at the Colorado Fleet Academy to learn the ins and outs of actually commanding spacefaring vessels, Alexei was attached to the 9th Flotilla and sent on routine patrols through the solar system, slowly becoming fascinated with the prospect of doing the unthinkable and charging off into the black, as the colonials had done centuries before. While nothing of note occurred during these routine patrols, Alexei's efficiency was again noted and he was promoted to Rear Admiral.

Twenty-four ninety-nine proved to be the year that made Alexei. After receiving three Bronze Gammandons for his role in quelling the ill-fated Ishanti Uprising on Titan, Alexei requested the position as head of the Special Projects Division Xenological Studies branch, which had recently been vacated by its SAC traitor predecessor. Noting his extensive prior service and history in a variety of fields, Alexei was awarded the position and left in charge of studying events in the Koprulu Sector, widely regarded as a thankless and tedious task. And until December of that year, six months after his posting, that is precisely what Alexei thought of it.

"The colonials are as violent as they are backwards," reports Alexei in his considerably less enthusiastic later posts. "Most of them adhere to outdated concepts of rigid oligarchies, while a handful cling to insultingly overoptimistic democratic ideals. I look forward to seeing the former crushing the latter before inevitably ending themselves in nuclear fire."

This all changed with first contact, when a protoss fleet inadvertently opened what we later learned was a mass relay. Alexei, always ambitious and yet never seeking the limelight, quickly eliminated the only other two witnesses to the event (one of whom was later posthumously identified as being a SAC agent) and notified his old friend Gerard DuGalle, arranging for the news to be broken to the world on his terms. Choosing DuGalle for his presence and appearance, Alexei quickly wrote a speech and had DuGalle deliver it in front of the world, simultaneously leaking the footage to the internet. Despite their best efforts, the SAC just barely failed to stop them, managing to sneak a bomb into the conference building, inciting a riot, and slaying several security teams before being stopped personally by Alexei, who was nearly fatally shot in the process.

Alexei survived his grievous wounding just in time to become an internet celebrity, something he reportedly loathed. For his work, he was promoted to the full head of Special Projects and assigned to gather intelligence on the potential enemies of the Armada. People working with him quickly learned that using the phrase, "Get on with it," tended to result in them being reassigned to Afghanistan, but he otherwise worked with the mix of ambition, talent, and utter lack of charisma that had pulled him so far in life already. While contact with his wife and children diminished into nothing, Alexei's relationship with Gerard DuGalle and his family bloomed into something heartwarming, with Gerard's two children seeing him as an honorary favorite uncle, something which reportedly drove Alexei to tears, shocking Gerard.

From 2500 onwards, Alexei has been the beating heart of the Expeditionary Armada, helping to further perfect the revolutionary battlefield medicines and driving his intelligence analysts to uncover anything and everything they could about their prospective enemies, both colonial and alien. While he frequently sent back money to both his mother and his wife, he otherwise engaged in no contact with anyone outside the new United Earth Directorate, a government he had helped found … not that the public seemed to be aware of that.

Now, in 2505, Alexei Stukov stands poised to make history again, venturing alongside his oldest friend to a new frontier, even if it is already settled. By all accounts he still refuses to speak of his past and regards it as mostly unimportant, instead focused on the future which, both the UED and himself stress, "awaits us."

Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, a man born in a remote Siberian village, initially unable to even speak English, has made history by unifying the UPL and SAC, and now prepares to do so again, marching into the heavens alongside his oldest friend. While he has left a trail of bodies and his own family behind in his wake, I cannot help but think back to the large and well-heated house in Vidnonrog, paid for by him and occupied by his mother, and conclude that whatever he is, he is at least dutiful.

* * *

 **Bury this document immediately. And congratulate Ms. Al Jilani on her recent admission into the Expeditionary Armada. I am sure she will be thrilled to venture into the Koprulu Sector, if she found my mother's house so comfortable and Vidnonrog so hospitable.**

 **-Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov, Head of Special Projects Division**

* * *

 **A/N: I couldn't sleep and wanted to do something productive. This is the result. I am open to a handful of requests to do biographies like this before marking these analyses as "Complete." At present, Mordin Solus (post-Great War) and Desolas Arterius (post-Great War) are on the list. Suggestions are welcome. Please let me know what you think of this. Thanks.**


	17. UED Information Packet

**A/N: While I am normally loath to put author's notes at the top of the page, the following document has spoilers for those who have not read up until about Chapter 35 of Sudden Supremacy. You have been warned. This will also be as close as the UED gets to analyze itself and its relationship with others. Enjoy.**

 **The Directorate Wants You! Yes, You!**

Greetings, citizen of the United Earth Directorate. We of the UED extend a warm and sincere salutations to you and your families, regardless of circumstance, wayward genetics, or previous nationality. Whether you are Morian, Dominion, or a fringe exception, the UED has a place and a role for you and everyone you know!

Let's get a few things out of the way, first.

 **What is the United Earth Directorate?**

The United Earth Directorate (henceforth referred to as "UED" wherever appropriate) is the successor state to the United Powers League (henceforth referred to as "UPL" wherever appropriate.) Where the UPL was an enlightened socialist polity composed of the bulk of all earthborne nations barring a handful of defiant South American city states, the UED is composed of all earthborne nations and solar colonies, while still retaining the enlightened socialistic values that kept Earth strong.

The UPL long kept watch on her wayward extrasolar colonies after your fabled supercarriers overshot their original destination. Through inbuilt vulnerabilities built into all colonial software and hardware, the UPL watched your original struggles and triumphs as Umoja, Moria, and Tarsonis rose into prominence and began interacting with one another.

With the exposure of extraterrestrial life in late 2499, the remaining defiant South American nations acquiesced to public demands for safety and merged with the bulk of humanity to become the United Earth Directorate! Unwilling to become inadvertently exposed should the extrasolar colonies be conquered by some alien imperial power, and quite willing to take action to defend said colonies against such threats as well as themselves, the United Earth Directorate's first official act was to commission the construction of a grand Expeditionary Fleet, which would later become the Expeditionary Armada. Our goals were simple:

 **Destroy the Mengsk dynasty for their crimes against humanity (a rousing success!)**

 **Sever all human ties and dependence upon extraterrestrial political entities**

 **Unite all of humanity under the United Earth Directorate, and usher in a new age for mankind**

While Arcturus Mengsk and Valerian Mengsk may be dead, the people of the Dominion they once led live on under the watchful eye of their new UED administrators! We will do everything in our power to make sure this new transition is as peaceful and non-disruptive for your families as possible.

 **What can I do for the Directorate?**

An excellent question, but a better question would be, "What can I do for mankind?"

While assisting in mankind's steady progress into a brighter future may seem daunting, the Directorate has provided numerous opportunities for the men and women under it to aid that steady push of society and technology! While we would encourage you to look to your local Directorate Command Center or Government Office to check for postings, the scope of our ongoing expansion is great enough for us to generalize a few choice careers for ambitious citizens of the Directorate.

 **Enlist!** The Directorate's Colonial Marines are a new organization, their members easily identified by the red paint on the left shoulder of their otherwise white armor. Their recruitment demands will likely not cease for quite some time due to the scope of the Directorate's expansion, and those who enlist early can guarantee some additional benefits due to their proven enthusiasm and loyalty. **Special accommodations to be made for veterans of former colonial armed forces, particularly officers.**

 **Become a public servant!** While the Dominion did well to preserve its natural parks and preserve its infrastructure, the Kel-Morian Combine left a bit of a mess behind, and urban conflict on Dominion planets has also created some clutter! We are eagerly seeking anyone who is willing to learn to pilot an SCV, or failing that, is simply willing to pick up used syringes and spent shell casings! **Special accommodations to be made for degreed engineers and former military SCV pilots.**

 **Science!** The UED stresses pushing the boundaries of reality and improving the human condition, and that means science! Do you or anyone you know have a degree in the sciences? Then stop by the local Directorate Command Center or Government Office with your resume and we will see about posting you on one of our illustrious Science Vessels! **Special accommodations to be made for the following branches: xenology (culture or biology), psionics (xenological or sapien), and theoretical physics.**

 **How will the Directorate change how I live my life?**

While citizens of the Dominion might be used to such sudden regime changes, it would be a mistake to think the Directorate just another in a line of failed human governments! The Directorate stands staunchly against certain concepts that have proven sadly endemic to human culture and society, and pledges to stand firm against such temptations!

The following mandates are in place:

 **Resocialization and slavery practices are now banned.** No human being should ever be subject to total loss of control of either body or mind. Total destruction of a person's identity or self-determination is among the vilest of crimes, and will not be tolerated within or without the Directorate. Those who seek to enslave human beings will be opposed by every means available to us. All slaves within Directorate space have been freed and are currently being relocated, while resocialized civil servants are having their files evaluated and either being peacefully released or having their minds returned to them.

 **All religions are now banned.** Much of humanity's history has been tainted by the worship of the nebulous and immaterial rather than the grounded and real. We have mapped the human genome, recorded every muscle and bone in the human body, and journeyed the cosmos itself to find no god or higher power. We of the Directorate stress the glorification of the human spirit and its myriad accomplishments rather than blindly attributing grand feats and miracles to some invisible higher power. Our advancements stem from the pursuit of science and betterment of our physical selves; do not spend your life in service of invented faith, prone to failing its worshippers in the most critical of moments – serve humanity, instead! **All religious buildings are now government property and will be repurposed to serve local populations through social works. All peoples of the myriad colonial faiths are urged to report to local Directorate Command Centers and Government Offices for discussion regarding their futures.**

 **The United Earth Directorate has no desire to cater to xeno whims or demands.** Only one species has ever originated from Earth, and we have little desire to change our name to fit any potential alien citizens! Whether they are asari, elcor, salarian, or any other alien one would care to name, they are ineligible to become Directorate citizens. At present, we are negotiating with the newly formed Democratic Union of Allied Species to relocate all alien races either out of the Koprulu Sector or to the soon-to-be-reinhabitable Tarsonis. Aliens who fail to comply with law enforcement or military commands within our sector will be sanctioned appropriately.

 **Directorate clinics are now open!** Do you or anyone you know suffer from any number of common chronic ailments such as asthma, depression, or diabetes? Newly opened Directorate clinics and skilled Directorate surgeons are now available to you! Partake freely of advanced Earthborne medical research and be cured! Do you or any of your loved ones lack a limb, and could never afford a synthetic or cloned replacement? The Directorate will gladly help you for a nominal fee! Stop by your local Directorate clinic today!

 **Do not be afraid to suffer; the future awaits us.** Regardless of whatever careers you choose or find available to you, as a citizen of the Directorate, the burden of preparing for the future is on you. The ongoing Reaper threat must be neutralized by any means necessary, and we must all play our part in securing the future of humanity, no matter how much hardship any one of us might have to endure. You will likely experience greater personal scrutiny and financial burden under Directorate governance than you might have experienced under the Dominion or Combine, but take heart! Through your temporary discomfort, you help insure the permanence of the human race!

 **Friend or foe? Who stands with us amongst these hostile stars?**

Through dint of superior technology and firepower, the UED has secured dominance* within the Koprulu Sector. While many men and women died on both sides during the conflict, Directorate superiority remains assured through the cooperation and understanding of local colonial citizens. Nevertheless, the question must be asked: whom among the various factions and races can be counted as friends of humanity? And how can we readily recognize the various servants of humanity?

All Directorate forces are marked primarily through the color **white.** Pure white equipment indicates that the person in question was born within Earth's solar system and serves humanity without question in mind and body. Directorate infantry are also easily discerned from repurposed colonial infantry through their **Argent body armor** , which uses substantially less mass than colonial CMC models while still possessing a greater number of features and providing overall more protection. **You are to obey all commands given by these personnel to the best of your ability.** Events remain tumultuous for the time being, and the Directorate is more inclined to accept the judgment of these particular personnel over anyone else. Please, do not try to make this transition any more difficult for any of us.

White armor marked by a **red left shoulder** indicates that the person in question is an approved colonial servant of humanity, willing to serve it in body and mind. We are given to understand that they are occasionally referred to as "pinks" by both fellow colonials and Earthborne alike, but do not let such an innocuous title fool you! Many of them are commanded by General Warfield, well-known for his loyalty and tactical acumen. Their dedication to humanity and prowess in combat is not to be questioned.

 **Teal armor** is unlikely to be encountered outside Morian space, but indicates that the person in question serves humanity through the Blue Suns mercenary company, which is under the command of General Vido Santiago. Not all of these forces are human, but events within former Morian space necessitate their temporary use to aid with the restructuring. **Regardless of their species, you must comply with all Blue Suns commands.**

 **And what of the xeno?**

Can any sapient being ever truly befriend a member of another sapient being? Can they ever master their inherent sociological and psychological biases in order to fully embrace that a turian or salarian life is worth just as much as a human life?

The answer of course is a resounding **no** , however sad that might seem. Take heart that the reverse doubly applies, and that reasonable self-interest when engaging with the xeno is as natural as it is unavoidable. No protoss will ever see any individual of one of the "lesser species" as worth losing one of their warriors over, while no turian general will ever commit one of their grand fleets to liberate a terran planet from zerg infestation while a turian world is likewise afflicted. Acknowledging and understanding this simple fact is key to rational exploration of humanity's potential relationship with the various alien races that inhabit the galaxy we live in.

Categorizing alien races as friend or foe is, naturally, inaccurate. They cannot be our friends, they can at best be potential assets, willing to stand against the threat of the Reapers for the sake of their own self-preservation. And certain races, it is worth stating, can only be categorized as a **galactic malignancy** rather than any title so noble as "enemy."

 **Who are humanity's potential assets?**

 **Turians** are a familiar and almost welcome sight to humans, and indeed all Directorate interactions with their chief polity (the Turian Hierarchy) have been universally positive. Sharing a similar understanding and appreciation of duty, the Turian Hierarchy is a close second to humanity in terms of character and the strength of their fleets. While one of their foremost generals (Adrien Victus) was indeed partially responsible for the destruction of Tarsonis, their dedication to their own people and the destruction of the Reaper menace puts them a cut above many other races. Possessed of an uncanny resolve (if somewhat lacking in creativity or overall intellect) the turians are to be approached with caution and respect, and turian travel through Directorate space is **fully permitted.**

 **Salarians** are unmatched in matters of the intellect, their potential only limited by their lifespan. All salarians are allies of humanity, and all citizens are urged to answer any and all questions asked by salarians passing through Directorate space as if they were human relatives. Do not question the salarians in turn, however, as doing so is a grave insult to their culture, as is notifying others of their presence, no matter how outlandish the scenario might be. Do not fear the salarians, they have humanity's best interests at heart. Salarian travel through Directorate space is **permitted and encouraged.**

 **Asari** are members of DUAS, a polity consisting of an alliance between quarians, Umojans, and themselves. While their fleets may have been devastated by the zerg, their standing universally biotic ground forces are considerable, and when coupled with the quarians' overabundance of ships, to be greatly respected. They will prove invaluable against the Reapers. However, from this point forward, **all sexual relations with these beings will be harshly penalized.** The Directorate will not suffer race traitors, and until asari manage to conceive and birth human children rather than their own, we will not reconsider. **Until xeno-relocation efforts are complete, asari travel through Directorate space is prohibited.**

 **Umojans and ITSA** citizens are currently outside the scope of the Directorate, having fallen under the sway of xeno influences. The Directorate will do its utmost to liberate the humans of these governments, and prevent further spread of human subjugation at the hands of aliens. **Umojan travel through Directorate space is prohibited, while ITSA travel, political asylum, and assimilation is permitted and encouraged.**

 **The protoss** are the most advanced known race in space. While their actions may occasionally seem heavy-handed, we believe they are currently the greatest hope humanity has of survival against the Reapers. While barely present in Directorate space, it is strongly suggested all citizens, colonial and Earthborne alike, heed their words and orders. While we protest the occupation of ITSA space, we understand their reasoning behind it, and one day hope they will see fit to release the humans under their thumb. **Travel through Directorate space is permitted.**

 **The quarians** are a formerly migrant people who recently ended a two-hundred year long martial law. While their initial overtures to the Directorate have been friendly, and while they are currently participating in joint Directorate/DUAS efforts to liberate Tarsonis, all of their actions are tinged with the desperation to avert extinction, making them unusually self-serving xenos. We would urge caution in all interactions with the quarian peoples. **Quarian travel through Directorate space is limited to space, and citizens should report sighted quarian individuals to local Directorate forces.**

 **The volus** are slaved to the Turian Hierarchy of their own free will, indicating a profound lack of self-respect or personal strength. While they are canny engineers and bankers, such talents mean little when the galaxy is faced with personal extinction. With no talent for combat and an unfortunate ammonia-based biology, it is not surprising they turned to the turians for help. Be warned: volus attempt to combat their inherent feelings of weakness and helplessness through the exploitation of others – limit contact if possible, and under no circumstances make deals with them. **Volus are limited to space travel in Directorate space, and all volus assets within the Koprulu Sector have been seized and reappropriated.**

 **The elcor** are close to extinction and have been afforded safety by the ITSA, who are now themselves imprisoned by the protoss. The United Earth Directorate values biodiversity and would encourage Directorate citizens to treat the elcor with respect and kindness. **The unprovoked injury or killing of elcor is one of the highest crimes possible within the Directorate, and will be penalized harshly.** If we cannot restrain ourselves from genocide, why should any other race? The Directorate's lengthy stay on Earth has taught us well about the horrors of ecosystems deprived of biodiversity. The galaxy at large should be treated no differently. **Elcor travel through Directorate space is permitted and encouraged.**

 **The hanar** remain a part of the Citadel for no discernible reason. In fact, we can see no discernible reason within the hanar at all, mired as they are within matters of religion and etiquette. Until such a time that the hanar's motives beyond opposing the Reapers and composing poetry can be determined, they are **prohibited from entering Directorate space. This applies to the drell as well.**

 **The krogan** likewise skirt extinction. While their behavior in the past has been both destructive and violent, the same laws apply to them as the elcor. **Travel is permitted and encouraged.**

 **The geth** fall outside the scope of being considered "xeno," as their desires and needs are so far removed from organic life's that they may as well be set apart. They serve the protoss and possess impressive fleets, meaning they back humanity on their crusade against the Reapers. This is to be respected and appreciated. **Travel through Directorate space is permitted.**

 **The batarians** were kind enough to back the Directorate's assault on Korhal, providing a much needed infusion of troops during a key juncture in the offensive. While they are far removed from the Koprulu Sector and experiencing no small amount of current upheaval, their assistance is appreciated and will not be forgotten. Once they have undone the bonds of every human slave within their space, humanity will be pleased to count the batarians as their most trusted and valuable asset. **Travel within Directorate space is permitted and encouraged.**

 **Galactic Malignancies**

 **Zerg!** The very mention of this terrifying race once brought fear to all those who heard it! While all guiding intelligences behind this horde of space bugs was once thought neutralized, recent events on Korhal put this into question. While the DUAS claims that the zerg responsible for the attack on Korhal are now dead, the Directorate will remain vigilant for any sign of the infested asari queen who leads them. The recently founded Anti-Zerg Initiative also seeks to remove all zerg organisms from the galaxy, one planet at a time, one zerg at a time. The Directorate will purge this menace from the stars, beginning with Tarsonis, likely ending with old Therum itself.

 **Rachni** were thought extinct, only to be found revived by the terrifying zerg! One brood warrior was responsible for the death of the honorable Admiral DuGalle. For this, the rachni have earned the unending enmity of humanity, and will be purged from the stars wherever they are found! While genocide is to be otherwise discouraged, the mindless and violent rachni are not deserving of such basic accommodations, an opinion widely shared by the rest of the galaxy!

 **Collectors** struck against the ITSA by abducting many millions of humans, before conducting a final gruesome assault on Korhal itself! Suspected to be servants of the Reapers themselves, these insectoid being possess advanced technology and psionics and their origin and intentions are unknown. In the face of such an enigmatic and vicious enemy, we must all stand firm and ready a counterattack alongside the other races! They are at present our greatest foe, and must be exterminated with extreme prejudice!

 **The Reapers** (known only by a single entity so far, known as Sovereign) are a race of vast sapient ships that periodically cleanse the galaxy of all life. Hidden in dark space, further data is being gathered on these insidious beings as we speak. Doubtless the Reapers will be surprised to encounter a cycle with humans in it! We will light such a light so as to conquer the darkness!

While the challenges before us seem daunting, our united human empire and mighty human spirit will see us through these dark times and into the next age of human progress. Remember:

 **Do not be afraid to suffer; the future awaits us!**

 **-UED Key Information Packet, first iteration; recalled due to suspected salarian tampering**


	18. Biotics and Psionics

Biotics and Psionics

Sponsored by Umoja Research Institute

Primer by Nova Terra

 **Question: Which is better?**

 **Answer: You're a moron.**

I'm more used to writing after action reports than anything this clinical, but I'll try to break it down to brass tacks.

Anyone who says psionics are inherently superior to biotics or vice versa automatically disqualifies themselves from the "I know what the **[redacted]** I'm talking about" club, so try not to lose your membership by making any assumptions.

Let's get this out of the way. Yes, high powered psionics do by default provide more options than high level biotics. Biotics are principally useful because of their kinetic applications, specifically three moves commonly known as "lift" (annoying), "pull" (annoying), and "warp" (stings like you wouldn't believe.)

Psionics, meanwhile, can offer kinetics without any need to wave your arms or glow blue, the ability to read minds, the ability to translate languages, and even shoot lightning out of your fingertips. It can also offer enhanced reflexes, the ability to use personal cloaking devices, and sensitivity to psionic activity, which is as much a weakness as it is a strength.

But here's the thing. Outside the protoss, you're hardly going to see any high level psionics. Me and Kerrigan are the two highly notable exceptions, and believe me when I say both the Dominion and Confederacy were and are looking hard for their next badass wearing a skintight suit. We're high profile because we're rare. Teeks (psionics with access to telekinetics) manifest in very small numbers of the population, and even then most of them can't move a coffee cup without getting a nosebleed.

Contrast biotics. At its lowest end, assuming the user is equipped with amps, they can send that coffee cup flying into the nearest Umojan scientist at lethal speeds, and then erect a kinetic barrier to deflect the incoming retaliatory fire about half a second later. They might feel a bit of a pinch, depending on how exhausted they are, but the most direct manifestation of biotic usage is an increase in demanded calorie intake. Contrast psionics, where doing it wrong has led to people's heads exploding, and every ghost's head is a mess of wires and jury-rigged implants designed to suppress the worst of the uncontrolled impulses. My own included.

You can find biotics anywhere, relatively speaking. Each asari has the potential to become a deadly expert with it, given the requisite amps and training. Their widespread gift was enough to even briefly give the zerg some trouble on Thessia, although scared civilians with basic level amps are a poor substitute for trained commandos (speaking as someone who has worked with both.) The turians have a small cadre of elite biotic units known as cabals, as well as the occasional auxiliary like Spectre Saren Arterius. The krogan count biotics among their number, as do the drell, batarians, and even a few salarians.

Contrast psionics. The Koprulu races have them, and that is it. And we do not nearly have access to psionics to the same extent the main galaxy does. Plus, most of those psionic users would be hard pressed to kill someone using their own, relatively modest, powers.

To put it simplest: low end biotics will beat out low end psionics any day of the week and are vastly more common to boot. High end psionics can do anything, including microwave your casserole, while high end biotics remain a purely physical instrument. A devastating instrument, to be sure, but limited in its scope outside of offense/defense.

If psionics offers one insurmountable edge, it lies in the information gathering department. The other races previously scoffed at the idea of being able to read another being's mind outside of a few instances (certain VI experiments and asari reproductive practices) while protoss do it as easily as they breathe and the terrans have been exploiting it for over a hundred years. While Sarah Kerrigan was … kind … enough to train Council diplomats on methods to resist low level psionic probing, this has not stopped agents from both the Umojan Protectorate and Terran Dominion to uncover far more data than they would have liked simply by dressing up ghosts and Shadowguards as diplomatic officials, or even sneaking one in using a cloak. Definitely made learning how to process eezo a lot faster than they intended it to be. Thanks for all the secrets, **[redacted** ]!

If biotics offer an insurmountable edge, it lies in their quantity. That is not to imply that they lack quality (I'd like to see an Umojan scientist survive a warp from a krogan battlemaster) but rather that their commonality through history has allowed other races to develop outright strategies and even spiritual practices to make sense and full use of their abilities. The protoss might have their own methods for psionics (they're not keen on sharing with me) but much of what the rest of the civilized galaxy knows about psychic powers rests principally on theory. I sure as **[redacted]** didn't know humans could produce psionic lightning until Kerrigan started doing it.

This also leads to a host of other logistical advantages. Biotic warriors require an amp, a variable amount of training, and an extra protein shake a day. Psionic warriors require everything from their own personalized neural implants, including dampeners or amplifiers, ocular implants, a personal cloaking device along with matching personalized powered combat armor, memory wipes (now discontinued), lengthy training including power management and emotional control, and a specially trained handler for most assignments. Protein shakes probably aren't a bad idea either. I'm not opposed.

Looking up the rough estimated credit requirements for getting an asari commando combat ready versus that of an Umojan Shadowguard … well, it's no wonder the Umojans don't have a very large military. But they're getting their money's worth, I'll grant you that.

One other thing: psionics lack range. It's a strange thing to point out, but the reach on biotic abilities vastly outstrip that of offensive psionic attacks. Whether it's the lightning, or simply trying to snap someone's neck, the energy output to reach beyond about two dozen feet or so exponentially increases for a psionic, like reality itself is trying to fight back. Meanwhile, krogan battlemasters can send warps up to about fifty feet with no noticeable loss of potency, enough to snap the spine of any Umojan scientist unfortunate enough to be caught in its path.

Oh, and biotics can produce kinetic barriers. They don't have much on the protoss's plasma shields, but not even Kerrigan could figure out how to make those, so I'm guessing we won't have our own anytime soon. Ghosts can get their own kinetic barriers the old-fashioned way (equipping a generator) but it tends to screw with the personal cloaking device, meaning it's only a good option if you're going heavy. Just another reason most stand up fights between an asari commando and a terran ghost will usually end in a victory for the commando.

 **Question: Why not both?**

 **Answer: We're trying, jackass.**

I'm told that big thing in speculative fiction right now is creating characters who have access to both biotics and psionics and, I'll be honest, it's not that far-fetched. The zerg have already proven that the two can mix, and **[redacted],** that psychotic **[redacted]** , could also make full use of the two to good effect. Most of what I'm going to say is still just theory, but since I'm one of two people outside the protoss who can state firsthand what high end psionics can do, this is about as expert as it gets.

Biotics offer personal shielding, reach, and good offensive ability. Psionics offer telepathy, enhanced reflexes, and personal cloaking. We'll leave shielding and telekinetics off the table. Let's assume a terran with an average psionic score of 5 (teep but not a teek) and access to average biotic abilities. So, warp, pull, lift, and barrier.

He/She'll have access to personal shielding without compromising their ability to cloak, and the ability to both read minds and break people's limbs with a gesture. So already we've obsoleted the need for plasma shielding and telekinesis. In addition, they will be able to execute offensive purely mental-dependent maneuvers at between two and three times the distance, while also being able to anticipate and decipher enemy movements and tactical decisions through telepathy. They will also be able to accomplish all of these feats at an increased speed; biotics require certain gestures to activate certain abilities and enhanced reflexes would speed this up.

So, in this purely hypothetical soldier, you have someone who can easily match the utility of someone like myself or Sarah Kerrigan, while requiring far less specialized training to keep them from making the nearest Umojan scientist's head explode when he asks a stupid question. They will have increased infiltration utility and combat ability without any need for neural dampeners, although it would probably still be unwise to skimp out on emotional training.

So – why isn't this a thing? Well, it's been seven years since we've discovered eezo, so you tell me. Biotics manifest in utero, when unborn children are exposed to a certain amount of element zero. It's about as much of a crap shoot as psionics (with a higher risk of cancer to boot), but the odds are still higher by at least one order of magnitude. If we have biotic terrans at present, they would be children, and symptoms would only be exhibited within the next year or so. The two populations most exposed to eezo through food and other factors would be the ITSA and Umojan Protectorate, so look there first. Now, the odds of them being psionic on top of that…? Even an Umojan scientist can figure out those odds are pretty low.

 **Question: What about the other way around? Biotic races taking up psionics?**

 **Answer: It's an arms race, and we're really behind.**

The Umojans experienced a rare epiphany a few years back and decided to research the psionic potential of our new neighbors. While some were unsurprisingly stunted (turians, krogan, and batarians) other presented surprising potential: specifically the asari and hanar.

Now, we know from **[redacted]** that asari definitely possess some level of psionic sensitivity, and their **[redacted]** breeding method reinforces that. There have also been reports of low level telepaths among asari already, such as the Consort Sha'ira, but much of her ability was previously attributed to having taken literally centuries of study on alien psychology. The trouble is, the numbers back up an above average level of psionic activity in the species as a whole, and worse, a study taken last year indicates that average is increasing.

Need I remind everyone that the ladies in blue, every one of them, are biotics already? Odds are that by the time we get our first biotic, they'll have found and begun training their first psionic, who will also already have biotics. And by the time we get our own hybrid soldier, it is likely they will have multiple. It's a numbers game, and it's one we are doomed to lose.

Worst case scenario is if one of them manages to bag a protoss. I'm almost certain that will jump start the asari psionic revolution, and by the time it is over, I'm pretty confident they'll have conquered the galaxy.

I hope the sex was worth it, boys.

 **Question: The hanar?**

 **Answer: I wasn't talking about the hanar having sex with the protoss, I was-**

Yeah, the hanar are psionic too, to an extent I thought at first the results were made up. A mean of 6 on the psi index would indicate that the average hanar is telekinetic, which is just baffling. Unfortunately, since the hanar's own thoughts on the matter can be summed up with, "Gleeble gleeble shlurp, the moon is so round," it is unclear if they had been aware of their own potential, or have spent centuries downplaying their own abilities. I'm starting to think it is the latter, especially since all of their scientific facilities are conveniently located in deep-sea trenches on Kahje.

 **Note:** Aaaand according to the news, now they've closed their borders. Wasn't me.

 **Question: And the zerg?**

 **Answer: [redacted] the zerg.**

Yeah, the zerg are biotic too. I guess that's relevant now. The biotic specimens are contained within the Exclusion Zone, with the bulk of them occupying Thessia. Speaking from experience, they are most fond of using pull to bring their food closer, but some of the larger strains will use warp or lift if the situation demands it. Hydralisks in particular like lifting their prey and then slicing it open with their talons with a single clean cut.

Funnily enough, the zerg are proof of concept of the psionic/biotic warrior. They burrow as a means of stealth, achieve tactical and strategic flexibility through a mind link (when they're not feral), and use biotics to extend their reach and improve their survivability significantly. The Overmind even neatly illustrates the limited range of telekinesis – It used a biotic pull to drag Orbital Platform Siha into the planet.

Given **[redacted]** , I imagine we're going to see a good deal more "proof of concept" from the zerg as the situation develops. If nothing else, it will provide good tactical data.

 **Question: To close out, what about other races developing a "hybrid warrior?"**

 **Answer: I'm sure they're already working on it. Except for the turians. Those guys are just building bigger guns.**

Eh, I'll go down the list.

 **Turians:** Incapable. No apparent psionic aptitude whatsoever. Fortunately for them, their numbers, discipline, and sheer determination make up for that several fold. Remember the damage the protoss took over Illium? Yeah, these guys might fall behind on this aspect of warfare, but they're far from harmless.

 **Salarians:** Give it time, they always find a way to subvert nature. Knowing them, they'll probably be right behind the asari in developing psionics, their own insensitivity be damned. Their fast rate of breeding should improve their chances of coming up with a specimen sooner or later. Now that they know it exists and have a means of detecting it – not to mention a severe need for it – I guarantee salarian ghosts within the next twenty years or so.

 **Protoss:** Obviously talking about adopting biotics here. Hmm, if there were anyone who could develop technology that could grant artificial biotic capability to themselves, it would be these guys. Thing is, I think they're so wrapped up in the spiritualism aspect of their own abilities and so convinced of their own inherent superiority (even with recent events) that they would deem developing biotics as unnecessary, maybe even crude. From what I can tell, it took them a long time to come up with a society that could withstand their own potential. Introducing abilities with no prior cultural basis within their society wouldn't actually make a lot of sense.

Besides, with their plasma shielding and, in the Nerazim's case, cloaking capabilities, they already enjoy most of the benefits biotics have to offer.

 **Krogan:** Ha ha, no.

 **Elcor:** I'm afraid not.

 **Drell:** I wouldn't put it past them. I notice the hanar didn't provide numbers for these guys on the psi index.

 **Batarians:** Maybe, but they'll be the last ones to develop it.

 **Volus:** Would anyone even notice?

 **Question: What about the Reapers?**

 **Answer: I don't want to talk about the Reapers.**

Yeah, they have both. Pray you never witness it firsthand.


End file.
